IWC/41/SE1

SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF A ZERO CATCH LIMITON DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS AND RELATED ACTIVITIESIN HOKKAIDO AND MIYAGI PREFECTURES, JAPANThe attached report contains important information on socio-economic implications ofa zero catch limit. The Government of Japan, therefore, submits this report
as one of its documents to the IWC for reference
to the Working Group on Socio-Economic Implications of a Zero Catch Limit.

1989

Socio-Economic Implications of a Zero Catch Limit onDistribution Channels and Related Activities in
Hokkaido and Miyagi Prefectures, Japan
Theodore C. Bestor
Department of Anthropology
Columbia University
February 18, 1989
This background report is for use of the Institute of Cetacean Research in preparation ofmaterials for submission to the International Whaling Commission’s Ad Hoc Working
Group on Socio-Economic Implications of a Zero Catch Limit. It may not be circulated,cited, or quoted for any other purpose without the written permission of the author.

CONTENTS

Miyagi Prefecture (especially Ayukawa) in many direct
ways:— on employment in enterprises involved in whaling
production, processing, and distribution, and henceon the life of families whose livelihood had
depended on this employment;— on the viability of family enterprises that in somecases are several generations old;
— on customary social relations, patterns of reciprocal
gifting, and other social rituals within whaling
communities;— on the viability of key institutions in the generalmaritime economy of Ayukawa, such as the
Maritime Wholesale Market and the Fisheries
Cooperative Association;— on other economic foundations of community life,
such as tourism; and,— on patterns of consumption influenced by thestrongly-held dietary preferences of local
consumers.
The impact of the zero catch limit is particularly
evident in Ayukawa, where the impact is intensified by
the concentration of whaling activities, processing anddistribution, consumption, and whale-related social andritual activity all largely centered on a single small,isolated community. In Hokkaido, where these
constellations of activities are more geographicallydispersed, the impact is not so immediately evident,
though it is clearly as severe in its effects on the “corewhaling community” (Iwasaki 1988).

Executive Summary ..................................................... 71
Introduction .................................................................. 72
Impact on Employment, on Family Life,and on Family Enterprises ..................................... 72
Impact on Customary Social Relations ....................... 73
Impact on Consumption and Demand ......................... 74
Impact on Retail and Wholesale Enterprises .............. 75
Impact on the Oshika-cho Maritime Wholesale
Market .................................................................... 76
Other Economic Impacts ............................................. 77
Mariculture
Tourism
Other Observations ...................................................... 78
Public Health Concerns
Bibliography ................................................................. 78
Appendix I: Research Methods ................................... 79
Appendix II: Statistical Tables .................................... 80
List of Tables ............................................................... 80

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Anthropological field research on the lives of people
involved in small-type coastal whaling (henceforth
STCW), the distribution of whale meat, and related
activities was undertaken in Hokkaido and Miyagi
Prefectures, Japan, during the Spring and Fall of 1988,
the first year in which the taking of minke whales was
totally banned.
The imposition of the zero catch limit has had impact
on communities in Hokkaido (especially Abashiri) and71

IWC/41/SE1

This background report is based on field research in
Hokkaido in October 1988 and in Miyagi Prefecture in
December 1988, with some additional information collectedin April 1988 (in Miyagi) and between October 1988 andJanuary 1989 in Tokyo. This field research primarily
focused on the structure of the various channels of
distribution for whale products, the networks of social ties
that link producers, distributors, and consumers bothformally and informally, and the social organization of thevarious family enterprises and other social units that
distribute, process, and consume whale products(1).
During the field trips in October and December 1988,
a total of 51 people were interviewed including whalers,
distributors and processors of whale meat products, retailers
and wholesalers, people in other maritime industries,
officials of Fisheries Cooperative Associations (FCAs),
officials of wholesale markets, officials of local
governments, and other residents of whaling communities.
In addition, published and unpublished statistical data wascollected wherever possible.

members as owner-operators, eight crew members, one
chief flenser (also a relative), and four to five part-time
flensers. With the cessation of whaling, all but one of theowner-operators were fired or laid off and forced to findalternate employment. The other whaling operation included
its owner-operator, a crew of seven, and five workers in aprocessing workshop. During the 1988 season operations
kept going, hunting beaked and pilot whales, but theprocessing workers were fired when the processing
workshop was closed, and the owner-operator expressed
grave doubts that the operation can continue in the future.
The immediate employment impact on local
wholesalers and others involved in the primary distributionof whale meat has been mixed. In both Abashiri andAyukawa all these firms are family-enterprises(3), generally
employing no more than three or four people all of whom
are family members. Some have simply gone out ofbusiness; others have switched into new lines of businessor refocused their energies on other existing lines of business(e.g., a whale wholesaler who now makes his income fromhis former sideline as a small-scale rice dealer). The impact
on distributors and others at this level will be discussed in
more detail below, in the section on Impact on Retail andWholesale Enterprises.
The difficulties of finding new employment for males
displaced from whaling and processing are common topics
of conversation among people formerly active in whalingin Abashiri and Ayukawa. One official of Oshika-cho incharge of the town’s economic planning section estimatedthat the earnings of the average whaler who managed tofind a land-based job declined by about half. But he, andothers, noted that many former whalers were unable to findjobs in the immediate area and had been forced to move toother towns and cities in search of work(4).
In recent years Oshika-cho’s maritime economy has
attempted to diversify, primarily through intensive
maricultivation of silver salmon, in large off-shore
enclosures that dot the bay of Ayukawa and those of nearby
settlements. (For additional discussion of mariculture, seesection below, entitled Other Economic Impacts.)
Although salmon cultivation has provided some
employment opportunities for displaced whalers — andindeed several former whaling-related concerns, including
a whaling boat owner and a former whale wholesaler who
have branched out into or have replaced their former
activities with salmon cultivation — it has not absorbed all
the displaced labor. And many whalers find that the workof salmon cultivation is physically more arduous thanwhaling; whalers and officials report lower back pains andhand injuries are common among workers on the salmon
pens.
Officials of the Oshika Fisheries Cooperative
Association (FCA) and others directly involved in whaling
operations in the past spoke about the increase in working
wives among whalers and whale processors, and the
difficulties that these women faced both in finding work

INTRODUCTION
This background report discusses aspects of the socioeconomic impact of the implementation of the zero catch
limit on minke whales taken in the coastal waters off
Hokkaido and Miyagi Prefectures, Japan.
This moratorium took effect on April 1, 1988, at what
would normally have been the beginning of the six-monthsmalltype coastal whaling (STCW) season for minke whales
as regulated by the Government of Japan, which in recent
years has set a total quota of slightly over 300 minke
whales (2) for the nine STCW vessels licensed by theGovernment.
This report focuses primarily on the impact that themoratorium has had or may have on: employment and theorganization of traditional family enterprises; on customarysocial relationships within whaling communities; onconsumption patterns and culturally determined foodpreferences; on various levels of retail and wholesale
activity, particularly on the viability of institutions in
Oshika-cho (Ayukawa); and, on other economic strategies
including mariculture and tourism.
This background report is based on field research in
Hokkaido in October 1988 and in Miyagi Prefecture in
December 1988.

IMPACT ON EMPLOYMENT, ON FAMILY
LIFE, AND ON FAMILY ENTERPRISESThe loss of employment resulting from the cessationof STCW is, of course, most directly felt by whalers andthose who had been employed in the primary stages ofprocessing and distribution.
In Abashiri, for example, the two local whaling
operations employed crew members, flensers, processors,and clerical personnel totalling 30 people, many of them
related to one another. One operation had four family

72Socio-Economic Implications of a Zero Catch Limit on Distribution Channels and Related Activities in Hokkaido and Miyagi Prefectures, Japanand in reconciling domestic responsibilities andexpectations with the economic difficulties their families
now faced. Whaling crew members in Abashiri echoed theseconcerns about new tensions created in family relations bothby the males’ loss of earning power and self-esteem and by
the new demands placed on their wives.
Work outside the home (except in the context of a family
enterprise, as explained below) is not considered in Japanesesociety a desirable norm for women(5), and such work —however necessary it may be for a family’s financial survival— is, at least, perceived as detrimental to other family
members, especially children. Japanese beliefs aboutchildrearing and children’s educational success put a great
premium on the presence of a devoted, directive mother tosupervise the child’s study, play, and social development(6). Several interviewees in Abashiri commented on
discipline problems stemming from the kagikko (latch-key
children) phenomenon — unsupervised children who returneach day to homes where all the adults are out working.
Concerns over juvenile delinquency were expressedby informants in both Abashiri and Ayukawa. Whalersin Abashiri commented on the loss of a prestigious
occupational role model for boys growing up, but officials
in the Town Office in Oshika-cho spoke of the more
serious sense of alienation they found in young people
in Ayukawa who could foresee no occupational future
for themselves nor any social future for the community.
Precise statistics were not available, but one Oshika-cho
official formerly employed in the town’s Board of
Education reported increasing — though still relatively
small — numbers of incidents of juvenile delinquency suchas drinking, fighting, driving accidents, and inability ofparents to control their children.
Informants predict a more direct impact on children’s
education simply from the loss of family income (7), andseveral Abashiri whalers commented on their financial fears
regarding their children’s future educational prospects (8)and talked of adolescents who had been forced to abandon
further education in order to take a job. Similar comments
were made by non-whalers — including officials of the
Oshika FCA and the town of Oshika — regarding the
educational impact on whalers’ families and the familiesof whale processors.
In addition to the impact of the moratorium on family
members and on the dynamics of family relationships, theimplementation of the zero catch limit has had serious
effects on the viability of family enterprises, families as
productive units. Virtually every enterprise involved inwhaling, whale processing, and distribution in Abashiri andAyukawa is a family enterprise, employing the labor of
relatives exclusively or predominantly.
One whaling boat owner discussed at length his
feelings of anguish over the possibility that he will be
unable to continue the family’s enterprise, which heinherited from his father a dozen years ago. In part his
concerns were pragmatically concerned with caring for

himself and his family, as well as with such things asrepaying bank loans and seeing after the welfare of his crew
members and their families. But for him, as for others
interviewed, the notion of preserving a family enterprise— what he refers to as his seigyo, his calling — is a powerfulcultural imperative, implying a high degree of moral
obligation.
The traditional Japanese family, known in Japanese as
the ie, has always been organized around the principle offamily enterprise as an enduring social and economic unit,
which ideally exists through generations. It is a conceptionof family and household that is extremely different fromthe notions of family that underpin domestic organizationin many industrial societies, where nuclear family
households are presumed to be formed and to disappear associal units in the natural cycle of personal lives.
In Japan, the ie has not simply been a residential unit
or a domestic unit that consumes what its members
produce or earn elsewhere; it has been a unit in which
members of a family both live and work together as acommon unit. And within this family system, traditional
notions of obligation and of filial piety place the highest
moral value on the responsibility of the present generation
to repay their debts to the members of previous generation
by nurturing the family’s enterprise and property though
careful stewardship so that it may be bequeathed to themembers of future generation.
Thus, for this whaling operator the prospect of being
unable to continue his family’s enterprise looms as adevastating personal, moral failure.

IMPACT ON CUSTOMARY SOCIAL
RELATIONS
The disruption caused by suspension of STCW has had
an impact on customary social relations on at least twolevels. The first is on the social relations and interpersonalties of various productive groups, such as crews and work
teams, for whose former members their established social
networks and social environment have been ruptured. The
second level of impact is on the wider array of informalsocial relationships of neighborliness and community that
integrate life in whaling communities, and in both Abashiri
and Ayukawa, informants reported that the disappearanceof fresh minke meat had disrupted a number of these kindsof customary social ties.
Members of one whaling crew in Abashiri, interviewed
together in the crew quarters of their boat, talked of theclose bonds that develop among crew members over yearsof working and living together in close proximity. (Themost recent addition to this crew had joined more thanten years ago.) Although this crew was still working
together (hunting beaked and pilot whales during the 1988
season) they spoke with intense emotion about thepossibility they could no longer work together in the future.
One commented, with a laugh, “We’re closer to each otherthan we are to our wives.”73

IWC/41/SE1

recent years he hasn’t given away this much, but that his
whale gifts probably normally totalled one to two whales a
year.

The practice of distributing wake-niku, portions ofmeat cut off during the flensing process, has had strongsocial implications in addition to serving as a partial formof payment to whalers and flensers. All processors reportthat neighbors and relatives visit the flensing stations toreceive meat in return for token assistance. While visiting
Abashiri in October 1988 I had the opportunity to watch
the flensing of a beaked whale, and noted that in addition
to the bags of whale meat (roughly a kilogram in weight)that were put aside for the members of the flensing crew,
relatives of the whaling operators showed up to request
and were given blocks of whale meat of about four or fivekilograms.
Whalers and other informants reported the attenuationof wide social networks as result of the cessation of minke
whaling. They and boat owners in both Abashiri andAyukawa reported that the rounds of reciprocal gifting that
accompanied the whaling season had come to a halt. One
boat owner reported he received no bottles of sake at thestart of this season in contrast to the dozens he would
normally have received; another owner reported a drop in
the number of bottles of sake he received from roughly 300
in previous years to about 40 in 1988 (9). Jokingly hespeculated that the sake dealers must have suffered a severe
drop in business with the end of whaling.
Accompanying the decline in the initial gifting of sake,and of course because of the absence of fresh whale meat,crew members and boat owners were unable to reciprocatewith return gifts of whale meat, and consequently reported
that relationships with neighbors and kin had declined.
Several commented on the decline in mutual visiting
among neighbors and the estrangement of formerly close
relationships with other members of the community.
Residents also noted that ties with relatives who have
moved away from the area may also become attenuatedas residents are unable to fulfill what they perceive as their
obligation to send whale meat to kin on ceremonial
occasions.
In Ayukawa wider community events are affected aswell. One whale wholesaler heads a group of about 150
residents who gather each January 3 on the shrine-island of
Kinkazan to celebrate the New Year with prayers and abanquet, which normally includes whale meat. But as one
participant observed in December of 1988, “This year
without whale meat, how can we even say kampai[cheers]?” He was simply stating the widely-held attitude,
repeatedly expressed to me in virtually every interview I
had throughout Hokkaido and Miyagi, that the ritualcalendar of annual community events and of the events
marking transitions in individual’s lives (such as weddings)
is intimately associated with consumption of whale, theabsence of which is almost inconceivable.
The general scale of gifting for social purposes canbe illustrated by one Abashiri whaling boat owner’scomment that he recalled his father saying that heexpended three whales a year on gifts(10); he said that in

IMPACT ON CONSUMPTION AND DEMAND
As noted above, consumption of whale meat is
intimately connected to important ritual and social
occasions, but it is also considered simply ‘good food’ thatcarries with it strong overtones of local identity andidentification with a valued way of life. Residents of
Abashiri and Ayukawa often used the expression sabishii(lonely) to try to indicate their feelings about the absenceof fresh whale from their diet, to try to convey an ineffable
sense of loss they feel.
One place where this loss has been acutely felt is themunicipal hospital in Ayukawa where whale meat has long
been a staple of the hospital’s menu, and where thehospital’s staff feels that the lack of whale meat — ofnutritious and most importantly familiar cuisine — may
have negative effects on patients, particularly older ones.
They report patients returning almost uneaten, meals
containing pork or beef. In recognition of this demand forwhale meat by the hospital, the Oshika-cho town officearranged for several hundred kilograms of frozen whale
meat to be used at the hospital, when the town was
distributing meat in December 1988 out of a special
shipment from frozen stocks in Tokyo.
Throughout the whaling areas there seem to be strongly
held local taste preference, in methods of preparation, partsof whales consumed, and species of whale preferred. In
both Abashiri and Ayukawa, local residents are notaccustomed to either beaked or pilot whale meat, and visibly
expressed disgust or distaste when asked whether it could
substitute for minke whale. Those who had tasted beakedor pilot whale meat discussed in great detail the ways inwhich it varied from their accustomed and preferred minke
whale meat, generally agreeing that beaked and pilot whale
meat are at best poor substitutes, for their palates andpreferences.
According to informants’ accounts of the consumptionof whale meat in Hokkaido, demand is fairly uniform withprobably a slightly greater demand along the Sea of Okhotsk
around Abashiri and Mombetsu. Taste preferences reputedly
vary between the southern region of Hokkaido, in andaround Hakodate, and the Okhotsk coast, and even within
the Okhotsk region. The more common forms of eating
minke as sashimi do not seem to vary much from place toplace, but according to informants quite distinctive dishes
and methods of preparation of whale meat, particularly
for festive or ritual occasions such as the New Year,distinguish one locale from another. It was frequently
suggested by informants that these localized differences
in tastes and in preparing dishes had their origins in
cultural differences among the various regions in Honshu
from which 19th and early 20th century settlers of
Hokkaido migrated, and that these differences, not only74

Socio-Economic Implications of a Zero Catch Limit on Distribution Channels and Related Activities in Hokkaido and Miyagi Prefectures, Japan
in food preferences but other aspects of cultural life
including ceremony, folklore, and dialect continue to markdifferent settlements in Hokkaido off from one another.
Even among people intimately involved in whaling,these micro-level differences in preparation and preference
are cause for comment, as in one conversation where whale
processors from Abashiri and Mombetsu (which are about
120 kilometers distant from one another) professed open
surprise at each other’s local methods of serving whale on
New Years.
In terms of generalized patterns of demand, one
Abashiri fishmonger noted that demand for fresh whale
meat had increased in the past three to four years, perhaps— he speculated — because of all the media attention
whaling has received in recent years. Neither he nor his
chief shop assistant thought that there was a ready substitutefor whale in the minds of local consumers, certainly no
substitute among the varieties of fish they sell(11).
Other dealers at higher levels in the Hokkaido
distribution chain made the same point, that consumers do
not see any foodstuff as being a simple substitute for whale
meat and that the disappearance of fresh whale meat had
not led to any readily observable increase in demand forany other particular product or products.

young man in his late 20s who after graduating from college
worked for a few years in Sendai, the prefectural capital,
before returning to take over the business on the death of
his father. He and his mother, in her mid-fifties, jointly run
the business. He maintains a special relationship with oneof the whale wholesalers active in Ayukawa but not resident
there. The fishmonger keeps the wholesaler informed of
the activities of Ayukawa’s whaling boats, and when whales
are landed he helps out the wholesaler in trimming, grading,and packaging the meat. The buyer for this wholesaling
enterprise is relatively new to his job, and the buyer later
explained to me that the fishmonger’s assistance had been
especially important during the buyer’s first years when
the fishmonger taught him how to distinguish and handle
different kinds of whale meat. The fishmonger is paid forhis time when he assists the wholesaler (¥5,000 to ¥6,000
per time), but more importantly he can buy meat from thewholesaler at the wholesaler’s bidding price in the Market’s
auction.
One Abashiri retailer referred to fresh minke meat as a
medama shohin, (eyeball merchandise; i.e., something thatreally attracts attention). He said when minke meat wasavailable his small store, tucked away in the back of a small
arcade of food shops on Abashiri’s main street, would attractlines of several dozen customers waiting to buy minke, andhe would sell his entire stock in no more than a day or two. In
its absence this year, he reported his sales were down.
In both Abashiri and Ayukawa knowledgeable
observers did not think that the absence of whale meat would
put any established retailers out of business since none are
so entirely specialized in the whale trade. However,
distributors and peddlers are more directly threatened by
the moratorium, and some have already gone out ofbusiness.
In Ayukawa, whale peddling has been carried on by
two or three small traders who took whale meat to thevarious geographically dispersed settlements that make up
the town of Oshika-cho. This business, of course, hasceased; one trader is now reported to be an ice cream peddler
instead.
Distributors have made various accommodations to themoratorium. In both Abashiri and Ayukawa, some dealers
have simply gone out of business, in some cases starting
entirely new lines of business.
One dealer in Abashiri went out of business in thepast year or so, but five others stay in business. One deals
in whale as a small part of a general fish wholesaling
business that caters to retail shops throughout the city of
Abashiri, and for this dealer the impact of the moratorium
will be limited. The same is true of the largest of thedealers, a secondary distributor of whale meat for whom
whale is a small and recent addition to the lines of products
the firms handles(14). Two other distributors, however, havebeen highly specialized in whale products and theirenterprises — essentially one-person operations — are ofsuch small scale that the loss of whale meat may force

IMPACT ON RETAIL AND WHOLESALEENTERPRISES
The disappearance of fresh whale meat has of course
had immediate and direct impact on the lives and livelihoodsof distributors and retailers involved in the whale trade,with the strongest impact at the most local levels.
One fishmonger in Ayukawa reported that during theseason when fresh whale meat is available there (generally
April to June), it is far and away the biggest selling item.
He pointed at the refrigerated display counter — roughly
two meters long and one meter deep — and said that fully
half his counter would be piled deep with whale meat, which
often was sold out before the end of the day. He reported
purchases by a single household of 30 kilograms were notuncommon, and estimated that he might sell as much as
300 to 400 kilograms in a single day during the peak of theseason in April(12). For his shop, he said the loss of revenue
from whale sales was extremely significant.
This fishmonger opened his working ledgers for myinspection, and we compared his gross sales for the monthsof April, May, and June in 1987 (before theimplementation of the zero catch limit) and in 1988 (after).
His gross sales for those three months dropped by 47.13%(¥8,029,085) (13). (See Table 1 for figures.) Both thefishmonger and his mother (who handles the bookkeeping
for the enterprise) were emphatic in attributing this dropin sales entirely to the loss of fresh whale meat.
Like the vast majority of enterprises involved invarious aspects of whaling and whale distribution, this isa family enterprise. This fish store is in its third generationof family ownership. The present owner-operator is a75

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them out of business.
One Ayukawa distributor has left wholesaling entirely
and now has a silver salmon cultivation operation. Another
tried to start a business dealing in imported frozen fish, but
after one year of operation he feels it is a failure; thus far
his wholesaling business has been sustained by distributionof pilot and beaked whale. He had not previously handled
these species and has found somewhat to his surprise that
despite the lack of local demand for this meat, there isconsiderable demand in distant regions.
Still another distributor spoke with sadness at the
estrangements in social and business relationships that hehad suffered as a result of the moratorium, having to severties with other dealers with whom he had maintained close
ties for decades. He remained in business as a small-scale
fish wholesaler, primarily buying on his own account for asmall general store that he (mid-60s), his mother (mid-80s),
and his daughter-in-law (late-20s) operate out of their home.
He had always been one of the smaller whale wholesalers
operating in Ayukawa — sometimes dependent on theneighborly goodwill of larger dealers to whom he could
appeal for supplies when times were really tough — butnevertheless he had always taken great pride in being awhale dealer. As he put it,“I used to introduce myself with a swagger as asakanaya (fishmonger) who deals in whale, andthen maybe I’d add that I sell a little rice on theside as well. Now, I have to tell people I sell somerice, and used to be a sakanaya.”In addition to these immediate effects of the moratorium
on local distributors, the cessation of whaling appears tohave had a generalized impact on Ayukawa’s local economy
in combination with other factors is leading to the‘hollowing out’ of the community’s viability in a numberof important respects.
In part because of improved transportation resulting
from the construction of new highways between Ayukawa
at the tip of the peninsula linking it to Ishinomaki requiring
little more than an hour’s travel time(15), retail businesses in
Ayukawa have begun to suffer from competition with larger
stores in Ishinomaki, and local Ayukawa have begun tosuffer from competition with larger stores in Ishinomaki,
and local Ayukawa businesses also report competition from
peddlers (gyosho) coming in from Ishinomaki selling
fruits, vegetables, fish, and other daily necessities fromthe backs of trucks. Statistics from the town office showthat in 1988, against a total of 175 surviving wholesale
and retail businesses in the town as a whole, 19 businesses
had closed since the previous year. These data themselves
do not indicate the causes of business failures, but officialsof the town interpret these closings as part of the trend ofgeneral decline in the local economy which they fear may
eventually result in the almost total disappearance of retail
and wholesale business and jobs from Ayukawa.
Local wholesalers and retailers view the trend
similarly, though they add that as they must competeincreasingly with businesses outside Oshika-cho the lossof whale meat both removes a profitable item from their
shelves and lessens the appeal of their businesses to
consumers, thus significantly weakening their long termprospects for survival.
The case of Oshika-cho’s Maritime Wholesale Market
may be taken as a case study of the economic weakeningof key institutions as a result of the cessation of whaling.

IMPACT ON THE OSHIKA-CHO
MARITIME WHOLESALE MARKETThe zero catch limit appears to severely undermine thefinancial viability of the Oshika-cho Maritime Wholesale
Market, the only local market for seafood and other staplesof the local diet, and of the Oshika Fisheries Cooperative
Association (FCA), the major institution in the local
maritime economy and in the economy of Oshika-cho
generally(16).
The Oshika-cho Maritime Wholesale Market is ownedby the town of Oshika and is operated under its authority
by the Oshika Fisheries Cooperative Association (Oshika
Gyogyo Kyodo Kumiai) (henceforth abbreviated as Oshika
FCA). The Oshika Maritime Wholesale Market is locatedin Ayukawa and is the sole maritime wholesale market in
the town of Oshika. The market handles the catches of local
fishermen, the silver salmon that are cultivated in large offshore enclosures, and the whales that are landed in
Ayukawa(17).
Analysis of figures provided by officials of the Oshika
FCA and reported in the FCA’s annual report to the townof Oshika (see Oshika Gyogyo Kyodo Kumiai 1986, 1987)
demonstrates the impact that STCW has had on thefinances of the FCA and of the wholesale market. (SeeTables 3-9.)
In the four years between 1984 and 1987, the sale of fresh
whale meat through the market accounted for an average of
66.21% of the market’s total sales volume. Whale accounted
for 78.93% of the market’s sales in 1987, the last year prior
to the implementation of the zero catch limit. Over the four
year period, the value of whale sales rose from 348,967,000
yen to 723,538,000 yen, while the value of other products
sold through the market in 1984 was 190,407,000 and in 1987
was 193,177,000. (See Table 5.)
The market earns a commission of three percent onsales of whale and three and a half percent on sales ofother maritime products, except for live fish on which thecommission is two and a half percent. These commissions
from a major component of the total revenue for the market
and for the FCA. During the 1984-87 period, commissions
on whale sales accounted for an average of 61.92% of its
total commissions, reaching 78.76% of total commissions
in 1987. Though the percentage of commissions derived
from the sale of whales inflated as the price of whale hasrisen (see Table 3), it is important to note that in the period
1984-87 the commissions earned on all products fluctuatedwildly, with an overall decline in commissions on non-76

Socio-Economic Implications of a Zero Catch Limit on Distribution Channels and Related Activities in Hokkaido and Miyagi Prefectures, Japan
whale products from 7,318,000 yen in 1984 to 5,855,000
yen in 1987. (See Table 6.)
Other operations of the FCA have also earned
considerable portions of their revenue from whale-related
activities. The freezing and cold storage service of the FCA
earned an average of 43.42% of its revenue from storageof whale products during 1986-87, while the FCA’s ice
plant earned 53.52% of its revenue during 1984-87 fromthe sale of ice used in the handling and distribution ofwhale meat. (See Tables 7 and 8.)
As for overall earnings of the FCA, during 1986-87
income from whale-related activities (i.e., commissions
on whale sales, sale of ice for whale meat processing, andcharges for refrigeration of whale meat) averaged 29.96%
of the FCA’s total revenues.
Thus the disappearance of whale-related revenues willseverely undermine the financial viability of the market
and the FCA, and this is a matter of vocal concern to FCA
officials, officials of the town office, and others involvedin maritime industries. One measure to strengthen the FCA
that the town office actively encourages is to promotemergers between the Oshika FCA and other FCAs thatexist in other settlements within Oshika-cho. (Although
the present Oshika FCA takes the name of the town as awhole and is the largest FCA in the town, it is actually
only one of eight FCAs.) Currently five FCAs arenegotiating a merger with one another, and the municipal
office ultimately hopes that all FCAs will merge into asingle one for the town as a whole, which will of course
strengthen the viability of the FCA and the market. But
the concerned town and FCA officials concede that toaccomplish this will require lengthy and difficult
negotiations among conflicting sets of economic interestsof different maritime industries within the town and thefact that the existing FCAs now represent constituencies
from what are sociologically and ecologically very separate
and distinct communities geographically dispersed acrossthe rugged Oshika Peninsula.
(N.B. The centrality of STCW in the survival of local
FCAs and markets is not true for all whaling
communities. For example, the impact of the cessation of
whaling on the Oshika-cho Maritime Wholesale Market
is not paralleled in Hokkaido. There, in the five officiallydesignated ports for landing minke whales — Mombetsu
and Abashiri on the Sea of Okhotsk; Shibetsu facing the
Nemuro Straits; Kushiro on the southeastern coast; andMuroran on the southern coast — fresh whale meat does
not necessarily pass through local wholesale markets
administered by local FCAs. Instead each whaling
operator relies on its own channels of distribution thatvary greatly from operator to operator and from port toport. The possible options include: trucking whale meatback to the boat’s home port for entry into distribution
there; consignment of some or all of the catch to a local
wholesale or broker; offering some or all of the catch forsale in a local wholesale market; or trucking some or allof the catch to wholesale markets in other regions of
Hokkaido.)

OTHER ECONOMIC IMPACTS
Mariculture
Although silver salmon cultivation has emerged inrecent years as a major new industry in Ayukawa, and istouted by its supporters as a solution to the economic
displacement caused by the disappearance of whaling,
officials of the local government, of the FCA, andknowledgeable traders in nearby towns and cities allcomment on the riskiness of the silver salmon enterprises.
Some fear market saturation, cyclical swings in salmon
prices, and the possibility of bankruptcy for at least someof the local mariculture enterprises. Other concerns are therelative inexperience of local cultivators and the delicate
balances of weather, feeding cycles, and harvesting thatmake such cultivation an inherently risky undertaking. And
one town official pointed out that the mariculture inevitably
conflicts with other local economic interests, including thoseof conventional fishermen and those of the tourist industry.
In the latter regard he pointed out an incident last year inwhich fish feed and other effluents from the cultivation pens
floated ashore and fouled the town’s only tourist beachleading to immediate protests from local innkeepers andothers in the tourist industry who demanded the town officetake action to prevent this from happening again and to
more severely limit the number and locations of cultivation
pens. He and other interviewees clearly believe that thecapacity of the waters around Oshika-cho to sustain silver
salmon cultivation is nearing its upper limit in terms of
ecological, economic, and political factors, and that further
expansion of this industry will be difficult.
Tourism
The impact of the zero catch limit on tourism appears
to be either neutral (in Hokkaido) or negative (in Ayukawa).
Of the several communities surveyed in Hokkaido andMiyagi that were engaged in some stage of the process ofcatching, processing, distributing, and consuming minke
whales, only one — the settlement of Ayukawa, within the
town of Oshika — has explicitly tried to capitalized on
whaling for its touristic appeal.
Hokkaido
In contrast to whaling communities on the main islandof Honshu, such as Ayukawa and Taiji, which havedeveloped a high degree of local identity as ‘whaling towns’
which have become a major component in local tourist
industry, communities associated with whaling in Hokkaido
do not appear to have developed this kind of touristic
identification with whaling.
Abashiri, the home port for Hokkaido-based STCW
vessels, is known as a tourist destination for a number ofreasons, perhaps the two most notable being the ice floes(ryûhyô) that hug the coast and force the suspension ofmaritime activity throughout the winter, and 19th century
prison buildings that have been reconstructed as a tourist

77IWC/41/SE1

However, these normally incidental and accidental
additions to the supply of fresh whale meat are a matter ofsome concern, now that the standard source of supply has
been suspended. Several interviewees in Hokkaido reported
a widely publicized incident in the spring of 1988 on theJapan Sea Coast of Hokkaido where a beached whale wasbutchered and consumed by local residents, a number ofwhom subsequently fell ill. This case, and fears about otherpossible incidents, have led officials in the Sapporo Central
Wholesale Market to agree to ban all transactions in fresh
whale meat.
But several traders in Sapporo and other places reported
their concern that in the absence of ‘normal’ supplies offresh whale meat, local consumers may be increasingly
tempted to consume whale meat that may be tainted or
improperly processed, and has not in any event been caught,
processed, or distributed by people who possess the
specialized knowledge, skills and experience to judge thequality and edibility of these accidental landings and toensure that the meat is properly handled.
These interviewees argued that the suspension of STCW
operations does not eliminate demand for fresh whale meat,a demand that they fear may spur unregulated andpotentially unhealthy consumption of accidentally landed
whales.

attraction. Because of its location as a regionaltransportation hub, Abashiri is also a gateway city fortourists going to the Shiretoko Peninsula (to the northeastof Abashiri) and to the northern and eastern peaks of
Hokkaido’s central mountain ranges (just south of Abashiri).
But whaling does not figure in Abashiri’s tourist
industry in any major way. Examination of tourist guides,
maps for tourists, souvenir shops, and other tourist signs,
plaques, and memorials in Abashiri found no overt mentionof whales or whaling, nor any of the visual imagery ofwhales that is so prominent in the settlement of Ayukawa.
Employees of souvenir shops in Abashiri had no knowledgeof whale-related products being offered for sale in recent
years, and fishmongers reported that sales of whale meat totourists as omiyage (souvenirs) or meisan (famous local
products) were negligible.
None of the other places visited in Hokkaido —Mombetsu, Kushiro, Sapporo, or Hakodate — displayed
any evidence of emphasizing whales or whaling as a tourist
attraction, with the possible exception of Hakodate where
the Hakodate-shi Hokuyo Shiryokan (City of Hakodate
Northern Seas Museum) includes some displays related towhaling.
Ayukawa
In Ayukawa, however, whaling is a central symbol of
local identity that has been heavily exploited as a touristic
motif. However, because of Ayukawa’s geographic
isolation from major population centers and its position ata ‘dead end’ in terms of transportation routes, the town has
never been very successful in promoting tourism. At present
the major tourist attraction is the island of Kinkazan justoff Ayukawa harbor, the site of an important pilgrimage
destination.
Local officials and residents report that the cessationof whaling has further decreased the viability of tourism
and the several dozen souvenir shops, restaurants, and inns
that depend on tourism. Plans are in the works for building
an expanded museum that will center on a whaling vessel,
but this is still some distance in the future. In the meantime,
as one resident put it, “without whaling there’s nothing forpeople to come and see here.” And the owner-operator ofa family-run inn mentioned her fears that the loss of whale
meat may affect the ability of her inn and others to attract
patrons seeking local flavor in their travels.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abashiri-shi [City of Abashiri]
1987 Showa Rokujuninen Suisan Tokei [1987 Maritime
Industry Statistics]
1987 Suisan Tokei Sanjunenshi [Thirty-year History of
Maritime Industry Statistics]
1988 Abashiri-shi Tokeisho [City of Abashiri Statistical
Report].
Akimichi, Tomoya, et. al.
1988 Small-Type Coastal Whaling in Japan. Occasional
Publication Number 27, Boreal Institute forNorthern Studies, University of Alberta
Bestor, Theodore C.
m.s. The Structure of Distribution Channels for the
Products of Small-Type Coastal Whaling in
Hokkaido and Miyagi Prefectures, Japan.
Iwasaki, Masami
1988 Cultural Significance of Whaling in a Whaling
Community in Abashiri. Masters thesis, Universityof Alberta
Manderson, Lenore, and Helen Hardacrem.s. Small-Type Coastal Whaling in Ayukawa: Draft
Report of Rsearch. December 1988 — January 1989
Oshika-cho [Town of Oshika]
1988 Jumin Toroku Gyoseiku Betsu Setai Jinko Cho[Registered Residential Population andHouseholds by Administrative District].
mimeographed report, November 1988
1988 Oshika-cho Shi: Jokan [History of Town ofOshika: Volume One].

OTHER OBSERVATIONS
Public Health Concerns
Fresh whale meat has become available for
consumption not only from the authorized and regulated
operations of licensed STCW whales, but also at times
from whales inadvertently caught in fishing nets or frombeached whales. From time to time, such whale meatenters into commercial distribution channels, but datafrom central wholesale markets in Sapporo, Sendai, andTokyo indicate that this is a minor source of fresh whale
meat. (See Table 10.)(18)78

Socio-Economic Implications of a Zero Catch Limit on Distribution Channels and Related Activities in Hokkaido and Miyagi Prefectures, Japan
this year.
12. Like other fishmongers in Ayukawa and Abashiri he reported that salesof fresh whale meat to tourists were negligible. In Ayukawa, sale of whale
meat for tourist consumption is handled almost exclusively through the halfdozen or so souvenir shops along the water front, which have small packagesof frozen meat available for visitors.
13. This figure of course includes his margin, which he reports varies between
20 and 30 per cent. At an exchange rate of US $1 = ¥130, his gross sales
dropped by $61,762 during this period.
14. For this distributor the whale meat accounts for only two to three percentof the value of all products distributed. At higher levels in the distribution
system, in regional markets in Kushiro, Sapporo, Ishinomaki, and Sendai,
firms handling whale products report similar or lower percentages of annual
15. Transportation improvements were paid for out of compensation the
town of Oshika received from the construction of a nuclear power plant in
the adjacent town of Onagawa.
16. The FCA is based in Ayukawa and includes maritime producers from
Ayukawa, and several other settlements (buraku) within Oshika-cho. At
present the 15 buraku of Oshika-cho are divided among 8 separate FCA’s,of which the Ayukawa-based Oshika-cho Gyogyo Kyodo Kumiai is thelargest. As of April 1988 the FCA had 381 members (one member being
one household or enterprise), including producers, distributors, andprocessors involved in maritime industries.
17. See Akimichi et al. (1988: 32-40) for description of the methods ofwhale sales through the Oshika-cho Maritime Wholesale Market.
18. One can only infer from the data summarized in Table 10, but presumably
the fresh meat available in the October-March period is from accidental
landings and the similar accidental landings during the April-September
period do not constitute a major percentage of the total fresh whale supply
during those months.

Oshika Gyogyo Kyodo Kumiai [Oshika Fisheries
Cooperative Association]
1986 Showa Rokujuichinendo Gyomu Hokokusho [1986Report of Operations]1987 Showa Rokujuninendo Gyomu Hokokusho [1987Report of Operations]
Sapporo-shi [City of Sapporo]
1987 Sendai-shi Chuo Oroshiuri Shijo Nenpo(Suisanbutsu-hen) [City of Sendai Central
Wholesale Market Annual Report (Maritime
Products)]
Tokyo-to [Tokyo Metropolitan Prefecture]
1987 Tokyo-to Chuo Oroshiuri Shijo Nenpo [Tokyo
Metropolitan Prefecture Central Wholesale
Market Annual Report]
Vogel, Suzanne1978 The Professional Housewife, Japan Interpreter. 12:
16-43.
White, Merry I.
1987 The Japanese Educational Challenge: A
Commitment to Children. New York: Free Press

Appendix I

UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTSRESEARCH METHODSBusiness ledgers and other records of enterprises in:
Hokkaido: Abashiri, Kushiro, Sapporo
Miyagi:Ayukawa, Ishinomaki, Sendai
Statistics compiled by the Oshika FCA
Statistics compiled by the Town of Oshika Municipal
OfficeThis report is based on several separate periods ofanthropological field research carried out in Hokkaido andMiyagi Prefectures during 1988.
In April 1988, Bestor was a participant in theInternational Workshop on Japanese Small-Type Coastal
Whaling, and conducted research in Ayukawa. The results
and the methods of that research are described in detail in
Akimichi et. al. (1988). Bestor’s contributions to that reportare primarily in the sections entitled “The Commercial
Distribution of Whale Meat,” “The Non-Commercial
Distribution of Whale Meat,” and “The Organization of
Small-Type Coastal Whaling.”
During the Fall of 1988, Bestor carried out field researchin Hokkaido (October 23-29) and in Miyagi (December 1822). The present report is based primarily on material
gathered during these two field trips. Intensive interviews
were conducted with owners of whaling enterprises,
members of whaling crews, distributors and wholesalers at
various levels in the distribution system, municipal officials,
officials of wholesale markets and fishery cooperatives,
retail merchants, and ordinary residents. Interviewees in
October and December1988 totaled 51 persons. In
addition, wherever possible documentary and statisticalinformation on the distribution channels for whale
products and the impact of the moratorium were sought,
both from public and from private sources.
Bestor conducted all interviews in Japanese. During
each of the three field trips, Hideki Kagohashi served ablyas research assistant.
Research in Hokkaido was conducted in: Abashiri,
Mombetsu, Kushiro, Sapporo, and Hakodate. (Hakodate
was visited by Kagohashi only, to obtain statistical andhistorical data.) Research in Miyagi Prefecture was

End notes
1. For a fuller account of this research, see Bestor (m.s.) The Structure of
distribution Channels for the Products of Small-Type Coastal Whaling in
Hokkaido and Miyagi Prefectures, Japan
2. In 1987 the nine vessels landed 304 minke; in 1986, 311 minke; in
1985, 327 minke; in 1984, 367 minke; in 1983, 290 minke; in 1982, 324
minke. Data from records of Nihon Engan Kogata Hogei Kyukai
3. In Abashiri and Ayukawa, nine enterprises involved in whale distribution
were surveyed and all are family-enterprises. All but one of them are reisai
kigyo (petty enterprises), with fewer than half a dozen employees. The
remaining firm is a family-held and operated company that owns a fleet offishing boats in addition to its distribution activities and in total employs
over 100 people in all its various activities. This firm is a relative late-comer
to whale products in that it only began to handle whale meat about 15 years
ago and only acts as a secondary distributor for whale products. It has nodirect connections to local whale producers but receives its whale meatthrough one of the local reisai kigyo.
4. Junichi Takahashi’s report on displaced whalers and their current
employment prospects in Ayukawa discusses these issues in much greater
detail.
5. See Suzanne Vogel (1978) for a fuller discussion of contemporary
Japanese cultural ideals of women’s domestic careers.
6. Merry White (1987) discusses at length the expected relationshipbetween mothers and the educational system.
7. Japanese compulsory education goes through 9 years, ending with thethird and final year of middle school. High school and above are optional,
and generally require extensive parental outlays for tuition and for special
preparation for the highly competitive examinations for entrance into bothpublic and private institutions.
8. Other researchers, including Junichi Takahashi and Milton Freeman,report specific cases of children of whalers or whale processors being forced
to curtail educational plans as a result of the moratorium.
9. See Akimichi et al. (1988: 41-51) for an extended discussion of thecycles of reciprocal exchange and gifting, and for additional data on thescale of sake exchanges in whaling communities.
10. cf. Akimichi et al. (1988: 46) for Ayukawa boat owner’s estimate offive whales a year expended for gifts.
11. This fishmonger claimed to never even have heard of tsuchi whale until

79IWC/41/SE1

9. Gross revenues of the Oshika FCA, 1984-1987
10. Monthly volume of fresh whale meat, selected
wholesale markets, 1987

conducted in: Ayukawa (Oshika-cho), Ishinomaki, andSendai. Additional information was collected in Tokyo.
I am grateful for the assistance of many people inthe various communities where research was undertaken
for their willingness to endure lengthy interviews and toreveal detailed, intimate information about themselves,
their families, and their financial affairs.
Support for research during the International
Workshop on Japanese Small-Type Coastal Whaling in
April 1988 was provided by the Fund to Promote
International Educational Exchange. Research during thefall of 1988 was supported by the Nihon Geirui Kenkyujo,
which provided funds for the costs of hiring an assistant,
for the travel expenses of the researcher and assistant
between Tokyo and Hokkaido and between Tokyo andMiyagi, and for lodgings and meals in Hokkaido andMiyagi.
The data, opinions, and conclusions contained in thisreport are the sole responsibility of Theodore C. Bestor.
This report may not be cited, quoted, or circulated without
the written permission of the author, except as indicated on
the title page.

LIST OF TABLES CONTAINED IN
APPENDIX II
1. Monthly gross sales of retail fishmonger in Ayukawa
before and after implementation of zero catch limit,
April-June 1987 and April-June 1988
2. Retail and wholesale enterprises in Oshika-cho, 1988
3. Average wholesale price of whale meat through the
Oshika-cho Maritime Wholesale Market, 1978-1987
4. Sales of fresh whale meat through the Oshika-cho
Maritime Wholesale Market, by wholesaler, 19781987
5. Gross sales of the Oshika-cho Maritime Wholesale
Market, 1984-87
6. Commissions earned by the Oshika-cho Maritime
Wholesale Market on the sale of fresh whale meatand other maritime products, 1984-1987
7. Revenue of the Oshika FCA from sale of ice, 19841987
8. Revenue of the Oshika FCA from freezer operations,
1984-1987
9. Gross revenues of the Oshika FCA, 1984-1987
10. Monthly volume of fresh whale meat, selected
wholesale markets, 1987

Appendix II

STATISTICAL TABLES
1. Monthly gross sales of retail fishmonger in
Ayukawa before and after implementation of zerocatch limit, April-June 1987 and April-June 1988
2. Retail and wholesale enterprises in Oshika-cho,
1988
3. Average wholesale price of whale meat through the
Oshika-cho Maritime Wholesale Market, 19781987
4. Sales of fresh whale meat through the Oshika-cho
Maritime Wholesale Market, by wholesaler, 19781987
5. Gross sales of the Oshika-cho Maritime Wholesale
Market, 1984-87
6. Commissions earned by the Oshika-cho Maritime
Wholesale Market on the sale of fresh whale meatand other maritime products, 1984-1987
7. Revenue of the Oshika FCA from sale of ice, 19841987
8. Revenue of the Oshika FCA from freezer
operations, 1984-1987

Table 1:Monthly gross sales of retail fishmonger
in Ayukawa before and after implementation of zero catch limit, April – June
1987 and April – Jun 1988
(in yen)
1987

1988

Percentage change
1987 to 1988

April

7,501,470

3,228,220-56.96%May

5,737,720

3,246,860-43.41%June

3,798,165

2,533,190-33.30%Total

17,037,355

9,008,270-47.13%

N.B. April, May, and June are the primary season for retailsales of fresh whale meat in Ayukawa.
Source: Figures recorded by researcher from retailfishmonger’s working ledgers, Ayukawa,
December 198880

Socio-Economic Implications of a Zero Catch Limit on Distribution Channels and Related Activities in Hokkaido and Miyagi Prefectures, Japan
Table 2:Retail and Wholesale Enterprises in
Oshika-cho, 1988

Table 3:

Oshika-cho enterprises:
Wholesalers
14
Retail shops:
161
Total
175

yen per kilogram

Size of enterprises:
Number of
employees

Number ofenterprises

1
2
3
4
5
6
10
14
27
30

60
68
25
10
7
1
1
1
1
1
175

Average wholesale price of whale meatthrough the Oshika-cho Maritime
Wholesale Market, 1978 — 1987

Percentage of
total
enterprises
34.3%
38.9%
14.3%
5.7%
4.0%
--> total of -->2.8%
enterprises
employing
more than 5
employees

1978

671.101979

773.53

1980

853.92

1981

763.47

1982

706.51

1983

768.95

1984

784.181985

1,100.47

1986

1,290.88

1987

1,515.83

N.B.

These average prices are calculated by dividing
gross sales by gross weight and therefore do notreflect the average value of particular grades or
categories of fresh whale meat.
Source: Figures provided by officials of the Oshika FCA

100.0%

Source: Calculated from survey of wholesale and retailestablishments conducted by Town of Oshika
Municipal Office
Table 4:

Part 1 of 2. Sales of Fresh Whale Meat Through the Oshika-cho Maritime Wholesale Market,
by Wholesaler, 1978 — 1987
Sales to Ayukawa-Based Wholesalers

1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
Total

Firm A

Firm B

Firm C

Firm D

Firm E

131,949
52.39%
89,88453.19%
161,54065.65%
207,939
66.52%
169,66762.28%
195,189
55.38%
146,576
42.00%
160,32254.78%
166,250
39.84%
303,86142.00%
1,733,177
51.17%

35,752
14.20%
24,96114.77%
6,143
2.50%
6,934
2.22%
21,4977.89%
80,26822.77%
124,372
35.64%
80,75427.59%
2,785
0.67%
1,027
0.14%
384,49311.35%

0
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
0.00%
15,555
4.46%
3,528
1.21%
10,898
2.61%
20,5662.84%
50,547
1.49%

1,557
0.62%
2,367
1.40%
2,617
1.06%
6,126
1.96%
3,775
1.39%
6,048
1.72%
5,902
1.69%
2,988
1.02%
0
0.00%
0
0.00%
31,380
0.93%

0
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
0.00%
0
0.00%

Upper figures are for annual gross sales in thousands of yen.
Lower figures are percentage of that year’s total sales.
Table is continued on following page.

81

169,258

Sales toAyukawa firms
as percent of
total
67.21%

117,21269.36%

170,300

69.21%

22,09970.70%

194,939

71.56%

281,5051

292,405

83.79%

247,592

84.60%

179,933

43.12%

325,45444.98%

2,199,597

64.95%

Subtotal for
Ayukawa
firmsIWC/41/SE1

Table 4:

Part 2 of 2. Sales of Fresh Whale Meat Through the Oshika-cho Maritime Wholesale Market,
by Wholesaler, 1978 — 1987 (continued)
Sales to non-Ayukawa Whalesalers
Firm G

Subtotal for nonAyukawa firms

82,581082,58132.79%

0.00%

Firm F
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
Total

51,768030.64%

0.00%

75,766030.79%

0.00%

91,581029.30%

0.00%

77,478028.44%

0.00%

70,942020.13%

0.00%

56,562016.21%

0.00%

45,084015.40%

0.00%

27,609209,711

6.62%

50.26%

30,153367,9414.17%

50.85%

609,524

577,652

18.00%

17.06%

Sales to nonAyukawa firms aspercent of total
32.79%

Total
251,839100.00%51,76830.64%

168,980
100.00%75,76630.79%

246,066
100.00%91,58129.30%

312,580
100.00%77,47828.44%

272,417100.00%70,942

20.13%

56,562

16.21%

352,447
100.00%348,967
100.00%45,08415.40%

292,676
100.00%237,32056.88%

417,253
100.00%398,09455.02%

723,548100.00%1,187,176

35.05%

3,386,773
100.00%Upper figures are for annual gross sales in thousands of yen.
Lower figures are percentage of that year’s total sales.
Source: Calculated from figures provided by officials of the Oshika FCA
Table 5:Gross Sales of the Oshika-cho Maritime Wholesale Market, 1984 – 87
Sales in thousands of yen(percentage of change from previous year)
whale sales
other sales
total sales
1 984
1985
1986
1987

average

Sale of whale aspercentage of total

348,967

190,407539,374

64.70%

292,677

253,709546,386

53.57%-16.13%33.25%

1.30%

417,253

272,339

689,592

42.56%

7.34%

26.21%

723,538

193,177

916,71573.41%-29.07%32.94%

445,609

227,408

673,01760.51%
78.93%
66.21%

Source: Calculated from figures provided by officials of the Oshika FCA and from Oshika Gyogyo Kyodo Kumiai(1986, 1987)82

Socio-Economic Implications of a Zero Catch Limit on Distribution Channels and Related Activities in Hokkaido and Miyagi Prefectures, Japan
Table 6:

Commissions Earned by the Oshika-cho Maritime Wholesale Market on the Sale of Fresh Whale
Meat and Other Maritime Products 1984 – 1987
Commissions in thousands of yen(percentage of change from previous year)
on whaleon other products
total
1984
1985
1986
1987

average

Whale commissions aspercentage of total

10,4697,318

17,78758.86%

8,780

9,156

17,93648.95%-16.13%25.12%

0.84%

12,517

10,556

23,07342.56%

15.29%

28.64%

21,706

5,855

27,56173.41%-44.53%19.45%

13,368

8,221

21,58954.25%
78.76%
61.92%

Source: Calculated from figures provided by officials of the Oshika FCA and from Oshika Gyogyo Kyodo Kumiai(1986, 1987)
Table 7:

Revenue of the Oshika FCA from Sale of Ice, 1984 – 1987

1984
1985
1986
1987
average

Revenue in thousands of yen (percentage change from previous year)
for whale related
for other activities
total
activities
20,8387,321
28,15918,0108,870

26,880-13.57%21.16%-4.54%

14,613-18.86%

17,15493.39%
0.93

18.18%

13,22424,55737,781-9.51%

43.16%

18.93%

16,671

14,47631,14731,767

Revenue from whale
related ice sales aspercentage of total
74.00%
67.00%
46.00%
35.00%
53.52%

Source: Calculated from figures provided by officials of the Oshika FCA and from Oshika Gyogyo Kyodo Kumiai(1986, 1987)
Table 8:

Revenue of the Oshika FCA from Freezer Operations, 1984 – 1987

1984
1985
1986
1987
average

Revenue in thousands of yen (percentage change from previous year)
from whale related
from other activities
total
activities
n.a.
n.a.
18,081n.a.

n.a.

14,723

Revenue from whale
related activities aspercentage of total
0.00%
0.00%

-18.57%
9,289

10,643

19,93246.60%

35.38%
6,474

9,895

16,369-30.30%-7.03%-17.88%

7,882

10,26918,15139.55%
43.42%

Source: Calculated from figures provided by officials of the Oshika FCA and from Oshika Gyogyo Kyodo Kumiai(1986, 1987)

83

IWC/41/SE1

Table 9:Gross Revenues of the Oshika FCA, 1984 – 1987

1984

Gross revenues in thousands of yen(percentage of change from previous year)
from whale related
from other activities
total
activities
n.a.
n.a.
98,769
n.a.

1985
1986
1987
average (1986-87)

n.a.

Revenues from whale
related activities aspercentage of total

97,733-1.05%

36,41969,388105,80734.42%

8.26%
41,404

112,505

153,90913.69%

62.14%

45.46%

38,912

90,947

129,858

26.90%
29.96%

Source: Calculated from figures provided by officials of the Oshika FCA and from Oshika Gyogyo Kyodo Kumiai(1986, 1987)
Gross revenues from whale-related activities include: commissions from sales through the wholesale market sales of
ice/freezer operations.
Gross revenues of the FCA as a whole include these as well as other sources of revenue.
Table 10: Monthly Volume of Fresh Whale Meat Selected Wholesale Markets, 1987
Weight in kilograms
Tokyo

SapporoSendai

Total

percent of annual
total

Jan

3,706

7

556

4,269

0.74%

Feb

6,901

0

3,006

9,907

1.72%

Mar

7,622

0

1,609

9,231

1.61%

Apr

67,915

8,038

18,793

94,74616.49%

May

127,671

8,633

21,392

157,69627.45%

Jun

116,183

17,996

20,570154,749

26.94%

Jul

72,066

6,606

12,671

91,34315.90%

Aug

6,774

1,473

1,265

9,512

1.66%

Sep

27,203

3,149

3,460

33,812

5.89%

Oct

1,706

2,140

1,205

5,051

0.88%

Nov

1,806

0

246

2,052

0.36%

Dec

1,785

0

338

2,123

0.37%

Total

441,338

48,042

85,111

574,491

100.00%

Seasonal Subtotals
April — September
October — March

541,858
32,63394.32%
5.68%

N.B. Figures are for volume of fresh whale meat of all species, not just minke whale meat.
Source:Sapporo-shi Chuo Oroshiuri Shijo Nenpo, 1987
Sendai-shi Chuo Oroshiuri Shijo Nenpo, 1987
Tokyo-to Chuo Oroshiuri Shijo Nenpo, 198784

IWC/41/SE3

SMALL-TYPE COASTAL WHALING IN AYUKAWA
DRAFT REPORT OF RESEARCH
December 1988-January 1989
The attached report contains important information on Socio-Economic Implications ofa Zero Catch Limit. The Government of Japan, therefore, submits this report
as one of its documents to the IWC for reference
to the Working Group on the Socio-Economic Implications of a Zero Catch Limit.

1989

SMALL-TYPE COASTAL WHALING IN AYUKAWA
DRAFT REPORT OF RESEARCH
December 1988-January 1989
Lenore Manderson and Helen Hardacre
Lenore Manderson
Professor of Tropical Health (Anthropology)
Tropical Health Program
Medical School
University of Queensland
Herston Rd
Herston Queensland 4006
AUSTRALIA
Helen Hardacre
Associate Professor
Department of Religion
1879 Hall
Princeton University
Princeton N.J. 08540
UNITED STATES OF AMERICAThis report is for use for the preparation of material for the Government of Japan for
submission to the International Whaling Commission. It is not available for distribution,
citation or quotation outside of this purpose without permission.

GIFT-GIVING IN AYUKAWA

This report is based on fieldwork undertaken by the authors
in December 1988 and January 1989. This period offieldwork coincided with New Year, providing us with aunique opportunity to participate in the religious and ritual
life of Ayukawa village. The report reflects extensive
observation of public and domestic ritual and everyday life
but draws especially on information gathered from seventy
informants, representing some 250 hours of interviewing.
In addition we have drawn on published and unpublishedmaterial, including personal documents, made available to
us by Oshika-cho and by villagers of Ayukawa. The
discussions below represent our preliminary thoughts on
issues central to whaling and the culture of whaling villages,
and will be developed in future papers.aA. General patterns of gift giving and reciprocity
Personal, commercial, employment and ritual
relationships are underpinned by the giving of omiyage,
gifts. Formal occasions of gift giving occur in constellations— at New Year especially, during the summer festival(obon) in Ayukawa, also at the time of the whale festival(kujira matsuri), held on the 3rd and 4th of August ten days
before obon. These gifts are named and require somedescription, since they stand apart from other, sporadic gifts,
including of domestically produced food items.
Gifts given to mark the outgoing year — given until
the 31 December of a year — are termed oseibo. Oseibo
are given in thanks for services of the year past: typically,85

IWC/41/SE3

they are given from those structurally subordinate to theirsuperiors. Hence supporters of the shrine give the priest
oseibo; within family run businesses, employees may sendoseibo to their employer; a businessman may send an oseibo
to other business houses on whom he is dependent (eg thefuel supplier, the bank manager, and so on). Oseibo include
alcohol (particularly sake but also whisky) and packaged
food products such as nori. Gifting may include a social
occasion — the sharing of tea — but this need not be thecase — the giver may simply stand in the foyer of thehousehold, and hand the gift with name card (meishi) tothe recipient without entering domestic space, utter a brief
formulaic speech, and depart.
It used to be the custom to go visiting from 1/1 to 5/1
all through the village, so that anyone who had business
relations which should be honored by a gift and a visit
carried out these obligations during those days. Informants
report that since the moratorium, however, the sense ofobligation has been considerably reduced, to the point that
if people get around to it at some point during the month ofJanuary they reckon that they have done their duty. At the
New Year they would traditionally deliver gifts in person,
but this custom of giving has decreased because of theexpense. People used to keep open house for whomever
wanted to visit, and this involved treating them to liquor
and food as well as returning a gift to them for the one theybrought. Now before they give a gift they feel they must
calculate the cost not only of the gift but of giving
hospitality, and they cannot afford to be so expansive
as in the past. Hence they hesitate to give gifts as theyused to. This seems to imply that the restrictions on
employment, whaling, and income have reduced thecommunity’s ability to carry out the customary
observances which used to help reinforce its solidarity.
Those observances cost money, and when income isseverely reduced, so is the community’s ability to renew
itself or to maintain its social organization.
Under the previous mayor, there was a move torationalize the village visiting and gift giving at the first of
the year. In order to cut down on the expense involved, themayor set up a big party at the town office at the first of theyear to make the former visiting patterns and consumption
unnecessary. In the last couple of years, the town officeparty has been dropped (presumably because of the expense
involved), and the former pattern of visiting and gg has not
yet been revived, producing the sense that the New Yearno longer is fulfilling its function of renewing communal
solidarity.
Ayukawa residents maintain lists of all the people towhom they send gifts as well as a record of gifts they havereceived in the present and past years. This is kept in a
notebook for that purpose. The previously mentioned
president of an STCW company received over 100 oseibo
in 1988 in connection with his whaling business; this figure
does not include gifts that came to him via his other businessenterprises. He himself sends gifts to roughly 80 persons

and businesses, concentrating on sea products, chosen as
an expression of his own identity. Geographically, his giftgiving network extends throughout the four main islandsof Japan.
Nenshi (o nenshi or o nenga) are gifts given in the
New Year, and anticipate the year ahead — services
forthcoming, continued close personal or business
relationships. They may be substantially the same asoseibo, although often the relationships between the giverand recipient of onenshi are less formal, and gifts tends tobe more personal in consequence — an item of clothing,for example, or a box of soap, chosen to ‘fit’ the individual
and to reflect in substance the affection of giver forrecipient. The actual gift — its material form and value— is deemed unimportant: “It’s not the gift itself that is
important; its the spirit (kimochi-heart) of the gift thatcounts” — although in fact gifts given and received areassessed in a rather more calculated fashion, determinedby the monetary value of gift, the quality of the product,its general unattainability (e.g. the food delicacy from a
far-away prefecture), and so on.
The term onenshi is also used to describe certain giftsof reciprocity for oseibo, including ofuda (talisman) fromthe shrine or temple to be placed before the domestic shrine
throughout the year ahead. However reciprocity for oseiboneed not be immediate or in material form. People giveeither one or the other, but not both.
Nenshi seem to be given most frequently between kin
or close neighbors, between persons whose primary
relationship is not a business one, to be delivered in person,
after the first of the year, during the first 5 days of the newyear.
In addition to onenshi and oseibo, “one of the pleasuresof the New Year” is the giving of otoshidama. This is money
given in an envelope at New Year, and is typically givenby elders to children: the exception is the gifting ofotoshidama by children to their own aged parents. The
amount of money for otoshidama varies from c. ¥ 2-3,000
for elementary school age children to substantially larger
amounts for high school and university students.
At obon (the summer festival), people may also
exchange gifts (ochugen); in Ayukawa employers may gifttheir employees in kind, although obon is also the occasionof a mid year cash bonus payment to workers. In addition,
in Ayukawa, employers associated with the whaling
industry frequently gave ochugen at the time of the whale
festival, the kujira matsuri, rather than during obon itself,
although in 1988, with the absence of whaling, the ochugen
were made during obon. These gifts again include alcohol(sake or whisky), boxed sweets or biscuits, and nori.
In addition, sporadic gifting occurs throughout the year:
when a villager travels out of the town for more than abrief business excursion or when a child or husband returns
home from work or school, for example. These kinds ofgifts, food items or souvenirs, are typically wrapped infuroshiki, handed to the intended recipient with a formulaic

86Small-type Coastal Whaling in Ayukawa Draft Report of Researchspeech of the humbleness of the gift, and accepted withequally formulaic reluctance and surprise, unless therecipient of the gift has anticipated its arrival and perceives
it as an appropriate expression of reciprocity either for
earlier proferred gifts or services or hospitality.
Supplementary to these gifts are constant spontaneous
gifting and sharing, ‘spur of the moment’ gifts of items to avisitor, for example, who has complimented the host on asweet served and is given a box of them is response, or a
toy to a guest who has told an engaging tale of an absent
child. Certain informal gifts are termed fukuwake — ‘thesharing of good luck.’ Whale meat gifts may fall in thiscategory: following the distribution of whale meat late
December 1988, when each household in Ayukawa wasallocated for purchase from the town a 3.75kg block ofminke, households distributed portions of the meat as
fukuwake to family members living out of the town, who inturn would divide their meat amongst other family members,
the daughter of an Ayukawa householder, for example,
subdividing her fukuwake of meat with her husband’s kin.
In shops, any commodity may be gifted: a friend who walks
into a shop may leave with gifted as well as bought produce,
particularly if the given produce was processed by the
shopkeeper. Ordinary customers may also receive gifts fromshopkeepers, such as talismans, packets of tissue paper, gift
packs of toothpicks, calenders and so on; these gifts are notalways of insubstantial value.
But gifting extends beyond the exchange of such goods.
The exchange of name cards (meishi) is another variant ofgift exchange, and may occur either at the point of
introduction of two parties, at the conclusion of a meeting
when continued personal or professional associations areindicated, or upon the re-meeting of individuals when one
party has changed his place of employment or changed jobs
within his workplace. In addition, in Ayukawa, a name cardexchange party was held on January 3 from the 1960s until
the mid 80s, initiated by whalers and their businessassociates, which gave individual crew an opportunity toannounce any change in employment status at the beginningof a new year and gave participants an opportunity to foster
both business and political contacts, and in this respect fit
also into the institution of nemawashi (‘greasing’ the wheelsof professional associations).
Again, social interaction incorporates gift-giving andother kinds of reciprocity. Whilst the exchange of meishi
mark the onset of association, personal links may be fosteredby the giving of photographs of events or family members,
and are reciprocated through the serving of tea and the offer
of snacks (oranges, cake and biscuits, and in Ayukawa,
whale meat snacks such as tsukudani and kanten). Gifts ofwhale meat, and other fukuwake gifts, occasion tea drinking
and the exchange of village gossip. Drinking, both between
male colleagues and friends in bars and restaurants, andwithin the home, also incorporates the spirit of the gift:
mutual pouring of sake or beer, termed toshunaujisezu in
Ayukawa to connote mutuality rather than heavy andunrestrained alcohol consumption, is commonly observedand contrasts with serving that reflects the status of thedrinking partners.b
B. The gifting of produce
Historically, the people of Ayukawa have been primary
producers, and today the products of both the domestic andcommercial mode remain goods to be gifted as well as sold.
As we shall explain, the distinction here between gift andcommodity is an artificial one: within Ayukawa, many items
are at the same time gift and commodity, and it is entirely
possible for the same item to circulate within the community
as gift and later to be distributed outside the community as
commodity.
The gifting of produce varies according to seasonality
and the prestige value of the item. Villagers who maintainsmall kitchen gardens for household use only, regularly give
to friends, relatives and neighbours fresh produce at thetime of harvest. Thus fresh cabbages, radish and spring
onions are given whenever the supply exceeds household
demand, or whenever a social visit is made and produce ison hand. Similarly, products gathered from the sea,particularly seaweeds (funori, nori, kombu, hijiki), but also
sea urchins (uni) and abalone (awabi), are collected byhouseholders for home use but may be shared with others.
Since sea urchins and abalone are seasonally available, thengifts are made that often correspond to a ‘first catch’, but in
addition, gifting occurs during the height of the season(shun), when the food is not only abundant but also
especially tasty. The presentation of sake to mark the onsetof the season does not occur in this case however, as
opposed to customary practice for whaling, and since someof these products have low monetary value, giving does
not create an obligation to repay. However, the freshnessof the food item is highly valued by villagers and such foodgifts are most welcome.
In addition, wakame seaweed farmers both retain aportion of their catch before sending the main catch to thefishing co-operative for auction, and irregularly distributea proportion of their catch as gifts. Some of these gifts are
in exchange for unpaid labour. Thus one wakame farmer
reimburses assistance during the harvesting of the crop andits subsequent processing with gifts of ‘mother wakame,’regarded as a delicacy within the town, and also gifts freshwakame to paid help as a bonus to the hourly rate. Whilst
wakame is harvested from around late March, farmers may
bring in small amounts of young wakame from around the
New Year, whilst the plant is tender, and this is frequently
distributed through secondary and tertiary gift distribution,
without expectation from wakame farmer or secondary giftgivers of a return gift since the notional monetary value ofthe product is low.
Fish are similarly distributed as gifts throughout thecommunity. Meals frequently include fresh caught andgifted fish, of any of a number of species that are abundantin the waters of the village. Often a number of fish are given,and those to whom the gift might represent a substantial87IWC/41/SE3

financial saving (eg gifts of fish to minshuku and ryokan
hosts) may be reimbursed with sweets, cigarettes or alcohol
throughout the year. The giving of fish and wakame,
however, are gifts among close friends and relatives, andthe reciprocity lacks the formality that characterises certain
whale meat gifts.
Finally, fish that is commercially farmed, rather thancaught, is also given. A number of whalers and whaling
companies have diversified into salmon farming, and inmany respects the gifts of salmon echo those that werecharacteristic of whale meat. Salmon may be given to theshrine at Kinkasan in May on the occasion of the festivalof the snake god, protector of the sea deity, and is salted to
the local shrine, at New Year. In addition, employees receive
salmon, weighing around 1.5kg, at time of ‘first catch’ andat the end of the season (August). New Year oseibo may
also be in form of salt salmon. As with all other produce,
salmon may be distributed more widely within thecommunity through secondary and tertiary gifting. The
distribution of salmon is nearest to that of whale meat, andsome salmon farmers, former whalers, speak of the salmon
as symbolic whale in the absence of that product. However,the first harvest of salmon, which takes place around May,
does not occasion anticipatory gifting through the
distribution of sake to the salmon farmers by othertownspeople, and salmon is not in turn gifted throughout
the community to mark this ‘first catch:’ ‘first catch’ giftsof fish are made predominantly to the employees of thelicensed fishermen.
The gift distribution system associated with salmon
farming derives its inspiration directly from whaling. When,
traditionally, Ayukawa people have said that, “Fish is to bebought, and whale is to be received as a gift,” the implicationis that local people get as much whale as they want throughgift exchange and therefore never have to buy it, while fish
is a commodity, and therefore is to be acquired by purchase.
Nippon Kinkai, a mariculture company originating in Nihon
Hogei, a whaling company dissolved by the moratorium,
makes a distribution of salmon, one fish per employee, on
the occasion of festivals at the local Kumano or Kinkasan
shrine. These fish are to be distributed to neighbors orfriends. On the same occasions local fishmongers areallowed to buy fish at cost, and the company will makegifts of the salmon to the parent company, to the local
refrigeration company, and other local businesses. These
distributions occur once or twice in a year.
Having begun life as whalers, Nippon Kinkai employees
think of the product of their labors as they think of whale,
and thus for them salmon must be treated as whale anddistributed as a gift. This relates back to their perception of
their work as a ‘work granted them by the grace of heaven;’
as such its fruits cannot be commodified without first having
an existence as a gift, in which state they function to renew
social ties and reinforce the solidarity of the community,
an existence which is separate from that as a commodity.
Seasons of other fish and marine products, such as ika(squid), sanma (mackerel), shirazu, and merodo, may also
be marked by sake gifting from relatives and friends andreimbursed by ‘first catch’ gifts. However, the gifting
networks for these items of production are substantiallysmaller than those that operate for whaling, and lack theinstitutionalization that characterizes the opening of theminke season.
C. Whale meat is to be received . . . .
a) The first catch
The gift giving of whale meat stands apart from othergifts within the community. As described in the earlier
report (Akimichi et al. 1988), villagers anticipate theopening of the whaling season by sending to the whalers— including the owners of the whaling boats and theemployees — bottles of sake. Gifts of sake are returned
with meat from the first catch, although in effect the ‘firstcatch’ meat may be from the first several whales that arecaught. First catch meat is brought to each household byemployees of the boat owners, either by whalers or by landbased employees. At each house, the meat will be taken to
the kitchen door — that used by close friends and relatives
and for informal visiting and brief calls — and the meat
would be handed to the woman of the household. One
informant, once the owner of a company that produced fertiliser
from whale meat waste, described the first catch thus:“Of course, we’d give sake for the first catch.
During the heyday of whaling, this would be to all
the companies, and later on, when we were only
doing business with Kyokuyo Hogei, then only tothem... they’d bring the meat to the house — theclerk of the company would bring it. There was akind of ritual when it was brought: they’d say ‘This
is our first catch. Thank you for the sake and hereis the whale meat in reciprocity of the sake.’ This
(meat) is in reciprocity. We’d get a small amountonly, but enough for sashimi — perhaps 1.5 to 2.0
kg.” (Field notes, 1989)
Clerks would come armed with several blocks ofmeat in a basket, so they would distribute meat toseveral house at a time. In the past, meat would be
unwrapped. More recently, each gift of meat would betied in a plastic bag with the name of the recipient on theoutside, but the form of gifting has remained the same up
to and including the minke season of 1987. First catch giftsof meat are usually prepared as sashimi and offered to
the gods of the domicilliary shrine prior to the consumptionof the meat.
Whilst the first catch gift of whale meat technicallyabsolves the whaling companies from further gifts of meat,
the number of household who send sake to the companies
and hence the amount of meat available for gifting during
the first month means that often only small amounts ofwhale meat would be available. As a result, on someoccasions more than one first catch gift of meat would bemade to a household: if the initial first catch gift was onlyaround 500-1,000gm, then a supplementary gift of meat of88

Small-Type Coastal Whaling in Ayukawa Draft Report of Research
between 1.5-2.0kg would be made, with a formulaic
expression of apology that the first gift was so small that it
was an inappropriate return for the support, symbolised by
the sake, that the household had given to whaling and thewhalers.
b) Regular gifts of whale meat
Whilst the first catch gifts are the most important rituallyin Ayukawa, whale meat continues to be given freely
throughout the season through a variety of mechanisms.
The constant gifting of whale meat from April through June,whilst minke are caught offshore from Ayukawa, and in
the past, throughout the year when other whale meat was
brought into the town for processing, leads villagers
frequently to comment that ‘fish is to buy, whale is to bereceived’ (sakana wa kau mono, kujira wa morau mono).
Firstly, all workers employed as whalers, i.e. working
on boats, regularly received whale meat as a bonus. Men
employed in small-type coastal whaling received around
1-2kg with each catch whilst the boats were working off
Ayukawa from April through June, and would also received
a gift of meat at the conclusion of the season off Hokkaido.
This meat would be used for household consumption,although as explained below, some of it would be
redistributed to shrine or temple households, and portionsof the meat might also be given to neighbours and friends.
Hence one whaler, employed over a twenty year period asboth a makanai (cook) and an engineer’s assistant in smalltype coastal whaling, recounts:“The size of the gift depends on the catch. The
company would allocate a proportion of meat tothe boat to be shared amongst the whalers equally.
With a big catch it’d work out at around 2kg perperson, usually 1-2kg, and this would typically beshared amongst neighbours and relatives, since we
couldn’t eat all of it anyway. We’d gift half. Of
course we gift other things too, sake, vegetables,
but whale meat is the most usual thing to give andwith which to reciprocate for other things.” (Field
notes, 1989)
In addition, gifts of whale meat were made to employees
working in whaling-related industries and to businesshouses in any way associated with whaling.
Flensers employed on land in the past would receive as
much as 3-4kg from a catch to take home, in addition to
cash bonuses received in June and December which
supplemented their basic salary. Large gifts of whale meatmight be received 3 or 4 times a year, particularly of sperm
whale rather than the more prestigious and valuable minke
whale; of these gifts of meat, usually one third would be
retained for household consumption, one third given toneighbours, and one third to relatives. Others who helped
to flense on a casual basis, donating rather than selling theirlabour, would also receive whale meat as payment.
Owners of companies handling whale by-products usedalso to receive gifts of meat whenever they made a purhcasefrom the flensing stations. The weighing station, thefertiliser factories, of which there were around 10 operatingin Ayukawa in the 50s and 60s, the factory which processedsinew for tennis gut, the canning factory, and the kabura(processed cartilege) producers, and artisans producing craft
goods from baleen, whale teeth and skin, always received
whale meat when purchasing raw materials, and this meat
would then be redistributed to employees, so that virtually
all workers in Ayukawa regularly received gifts of whale
meat. The owner of one fertiliser factory recalls:“For two generations we had free meat, we never
had to busy it. Our especial relationship was with
the Kyokuyo Co., although we also had businesswith Taiyo Hogei and Nissan — and it was
Kyokuyo especially then who provided the fertiliser
material. So we’d buy the scrap from the company,
then get the meat free. There was no formal
reciprocity of this gift, although at New Year andobon we’d always send sake. And if there was a
big catch, we’d send down sake to the whalers toallow them to celebrate, and this was really also inreciprocity for the meat,” (Field notes, 1989)
In addition, employees in subsidiary industries also
helped flense, and might receive additional meat in returnfor their labour. A member of the kabura producing
household recalls:“Most meat that came into this house was gifted.
We’d go to a flensing station for meat, and it would
be given free because we bought the cartilege —whenever a whale came in, we’d be rung up andadvised. If we helped flense we’d also be given the
cartilege at a discount price — 50kg at the price of
30kg . . . and we’d always be given meat. After themoratorium (on larger whales) we ceased to help
flense and we weren’t given meat — just bought
the cartilege. It depended on the size of the catchhow much meat we’d be given, but whenever weneeded meat we’d just ask and receive.” (Field
notes, 1989)
Other villagers, whose businesses regularly broughtthem in association with whalers, also received frequent
gifts of whale meat. Hence innkeepers in whose minshuku
and ryokan whalers might stay would receive meat gifts
from their guests, and would reciprocate not through formal
gifts of sake but by providing some free alcohol to theguests. As a result of the extent of employment of Ayukawa
villagers in whaling and whaling-related industries andthrough the mechanism of secondary gift distribution, mosthouseholds received continual gifts of whale meat in thewhaling season, with sufficient surplus to send meat tofamily members living out of the town and to salt, dry, andmost recently to freeze meat to ensure a year round supply
of meat for household consumption. The purchase of meatthrough commercial outlets was therefore uncommon,
although stocked by own whale meat shop and by the fish
shop; in addition, peddlars bought meat from the factoryand carried it around, particularly to people living in the89

IWC/41/SE3

mountains who were isolated from other outlets and fromgift exchange networks.
Kin did not traditionally give each other whale meat,on the theory that they are together often enough that sucha gift wasn’t necessary. But at the whale meat distribution
by Oshika Town at the end of December 1988 a lot of meat
was put aside by people wishing to send it to their children
and relatives who live outside of Ayukawa. So now thatwhale is a scarce commodity, as opposed to an everyday,
ordinary, absolutely expectable part of a meal, it acquires a
new kind of currency in gift exchange among kin which it
did not use to have. As an ordinary food, it was appropriatethat kin share it outside the gift-exchange circuit, but now
that it is a scarce commodity, it enters that circuit as a highly
prized item which is an appropriate item for exchange
between kin.
c) Gifts to temples and shrines
Families of the shrine and the two temples that operate
in Ayukawa regularly received a share of whale meat, forparishioners would bring meat as an offering to the gods,in thanks for a successful catch, to secure supernatural
support for continued abundance at sea, and for personalsafety whilst at sea. Whilst meat brought to priests would
then be taken back home for domestic consumption,
conventionally a proportion would be left with the priest’sfamily for their own consumption. In addition, womenbelonging to the women’s confraternities of the temples
would often bring whale meat as gifts to the temple
households, usually an irregular amount of around 1.5kg.
Often the flow of meat to religious households would be
extensive, to the point that one priestly household recalls
throwing out meat that the household was unable to consume:“Here (at the temple) each time a whale wascaught we’d be given meat. The people, the crewof the whaling boats, would bring meat up here tobe purified, out of respect of the whales and for therepose of the souls (of the whales). Somehouseholds would bring meat to us for purification.
There are memorial tablets to the whale at the
temple and people pray before these. Part of themeat would be placed before them in respect of thesouls of the whales. You should respect the life of
all creatures. The whale is really important in thetown....
“Every time there was a catch someone would
bring meat up to the temple. So we’d get about 2kg
from them. We’d have this amount from a few
households. Most of the people in the town wereassociated with whaling in one way or another andwould bring us up meat so we never had to buyany. We’d never eat anything except whale meat.
We used to season the whale meat with miso, beans
and salt, and so on. We used to eat salted and driedmeat too. But mostly we’d just eat sashimi.
“Sometimes we had so much meat we’d throw it
out.” (Field notes, 1989)

Gifts of meat to the temples and shrines were usually
reciprocated through immediate hospitality: the wife of awhaler who brought up a gift of meat would be served tea
and snacks. But, as one ritual specialist pointed out,“the reciprocity here is in the form of a spiritual
gift, of prayers said for safety at sea and a goodcatch. And it is the spirit of the gift that counts.”(Field Notes, 1989)
During the 1950s and 1960s, when whaling was at its
height and meat circulated throughout the village fromboth whalers and employees in subsidiary industries, theredistribution of meat through gifting was not always
welcome: there was so much meat, villagers recall, thatno-one was without gifted meat and no households needed
to purchase it at all. But notwithstanding the abundanceof whale meat in the town, secondary gift distribution wascommon and has been increasingly important as a meansof distributing meat as whaling-related industries
contracted. Thus meat might be given from the owner of aboat to his employees, who would in turn gift to the temple.
The temple in turn might redistribute a portion of the meat
to relatives and friends, within and beyond Ayukawa, who
would then share the gift in a meal with their own friends
or, for women who have married out, with affinal kin. Insummary, a gift of 2kg of meat might continue to be
divided as follows:boat owner whaler temple other parishioners
affinal kin guests and other relatives
It is, as one temple informant stressed, “hard to guess where
the gift might stop.” (Field notes, 1989)d) New Years food and ritual
Many communal rites of temples and shrines are build
around a central motif of a communal meal shared byparishioners with the deities. This motif is pervasive
throughout the liturgical calender of both Buddhist andShinto institutions but is particularly prominent in rites of
the New Year. New Year is a high point of the ritual year
everywhere in Japan. Ayukawa’s New Years customs
reflect the centrality of whaling to this community throughthe prominent use of whale meat.
The centrality of the communal meal, or naorai, toJapanese religious life is not limited to whaling
communities, but the naorai of a whaling town like
Ayukawa is particularly marked by the way in which whale
meat is incorporated. Normally it would be unthinkable forred meat to be offered on an altar to Shinto divinities, but
this is precisely what happens in Ayukawa. Not only is
whale meat included, but it is the most prominent andhighlighted item among a large number of food offerings.
In addition, traditionalists offer whale meat on theirdomestic altars to the Japanese gods (kami) for a full sevendays at New Years, and some go so far as to continue thispractice for the first 2 weeks of the year.
Whale meat is offered on the private and communal
altars of this community precisely because it is the foodthat most uniquely symbolizes the source of communal

90Small-type Coastal Whaling in Ayukawa Draft Report of Researchsolidarity. Because Ayukawa’s social and economic
organization is so dependent upon whaling, whale meat isparticularly appropriate as an offering to the community’stutelary deities, enshrined at the Kumano and Koganeyama
Shrines. After it has been offered to the deities by being
placed on an altar, this whale meat is taken down and servedin the communal meal shared by the parishioners, andputatively, by the deities as well.
Local shrine priests sometimes speak of whale meat asa ‘health food,’ and they report the existence of a tradition
holding that since the whale is a long-lived animal, one canacquire long life and health by consuming whale meat.
These beliefs share much in common with the underlying
assumptions of the ritual communal meals at shrines whichhave the intent of increasing the vitality of the community.
In this context the idea is that the deities impart their own
potency to the food offered upon their altars, and that
potency is the imparted to parishioners. This infusion ofhuman beings with the sacrality of deities is accomplishedhere through the eating of whale meat, and hence this meat
becomes an important symbolic vehicle for continued
reciprocity between human and divine realms in the local
word view.
The New Year is also a time for pacification and ritualfeeding of the souls of whales and whalers who have died.
The mid-summer obon festival, described in detail in an
earlier report, is the time of the year when this motif ismost prominent, but it is also played out at the New Yearas well. On 16 January in both Buddhist temples in
Ayukawa, parishioners visit the temple to pay formal New
Years greetings to the priest and to their ancestors, whose
spirits are entrusted to the care of the temples. On thisoccasion, the back areas of the temple are opened forordinary persons to enter and offer incense. There are special
altars for offerings and prayers to the ancestors, and in
addition parishioners are encouraged to enter a special
alcove housing the memorial tablets representing the spiritsof whales and whalers (the construction of which issponsered by the whaling companies), there to make special
offerings of incense and prayers.
A third type of New Years rite related to whaling isthat renewing the Boat Spirits (funadama). These are thedeities who protect the whaling boat and its crew at sea,
and it is the local custom for the boat owner, captain, andharpooner to perform special worship for them on the last
day of the year. The boat spirits are female, and they are
represented by 3-5 strands of pubic hair of a virgin girl, a
dice, and paper dolls.
The boat owner is responsible for the preparations. Thatmeans that he has to prepare a set of New Year domestic
shine decorations, including not only the flags raised on
the mast, but the pine branch tied to the mast, and the smallerrings of straw rope which are placed in the engine,
harpooner-captain’s, and crew’s sleeping rooms. The boatowner brought a large bottle of sake and a tea kettle ofwater. The first order of business was to affix the threeflags to the mast: the national flag at the top, followed by
two colorful flags bearing the name of the boat. Wheneverything had been arranged in front of the small shrine
enshrining the Boat Spirits, he poured a cup of sake and a
glass of water as offerings. Then in turn the harpooner, andthe captain bowed and clapped in front of it, and that was
the end of the ceremony.
e) When there is no whale...
The last catch of minke whale was in 1987. Thus there
was no minke season in 1988, and boat owners told villagers
who they knew would normally send gifts of sake to not do
so. There was, in fact, limited whaling for gondo (Pilot
whale) and tsuchi (Baird’s beaked whale), but these catches
were not marked through ritual gift giving and meat caught
was not distributed through the community as was usual
for minke meat. As far as villagers were concerned, there
was no whaling in 1988, and there was no meat in the village
as a result. Again, in fact, there was meat: the fish shop
continues to buy frozen meat from the Antarctic. However,as we explain in the section on food preferences, Ayukawa
people are uncompromising in their preference for locallycaught minke meat. But in addition, meat available in the
supermarkets is expensive, and through 1988 people haveused up their domestically frozen meat supply andsupplement this with a greater amount of meat than is usual.
Given the perception that there was “no meat” in
Ayukawa, the town distribution of whale meat, frozen
minke from pelagic research whaling, was of great moment.
The town bought 13 tons of meat from the Institute of
Cetacean Research in Tokyo, organised a formal means of
distribution that allowed each household to purchase 3.75kg(one quarter of a 15kg case of meat). Forms werepredistributed to households in December, and advancepayment of ¥10,600 was made at the town office.
Householders then presented to the distribution point —adjacent to the refrigeration plant of the fishing co-operativeby the wharf — and collected their allocation. The actual
distribution was done on 27th and 29th December, from 912 and 1-3 on the first day and from 1-3 only on the second,with members of the town office and the fish co-operative
supervising the distribution and working the machine thatfurther cut down each frozen block of meat. The distributionof meat was reported in the press and villagers reported
numerous calls from outsiders also wanting to buy. Within
the town some people tried to get access to other’sallocations, and in a few instances, single person households
gave to neighbours of friends their allocation as well. No
special provision was made for business houses, but 2 ton
was held over for the school, the hospital, for the nationalinn (the kokumin shukusha), and, as discussed in this report,
for use by the gokanichikai of Koganeyama Shrine on theisland of Kinkasan on January 3.c Since the distribution
was immediately before New Year, villagers weredelighted: it allowed them to celebrate New Year incustomary fashion, whilst at the same time serving as apoignant reminder of their vulnerability to external forces.

91IWC/41/SE3

FOOD AND RITUAL

Whale sashimi is cut across the grain and is typicallyserved in bite-size pieces, either paper thin or to half acentimetre thick, with thinly sliced blubber and skin (kawa).
A piece of blubber and a piece of meat is then eaten together
with a dip of soy sauce and grated ginger. Other seasonings
are not used for sashimi made from good red meat, although
they may be with other kinds of raw whale meat. Meat fromthe gum (haniku), for example, is either boiled or eaten
raw with vinegar; the fin of Pilot whale is again eaten raw
with vinegar. Blubber is eaten, either with or without oilbeing extracted first, and may be served cooked or raw.
Blubber was also used in the past by villagers to flavour
vegetables in mixed cooked dishes, and oil-extracted
blubber was sometimes used in a soup served at obon.
Cooking or further processing is a means to disguisemeat that is aged or unfresh or tough, or from species
regarded as less palatable than minke, and for the
consumption of scraps of meat (hagi niku, scraped fromthe spine) and internal and reproductive organs. Whale
tongue is lightly cooked; meat with blubber attached may
be boiled and sliced, sometimes salted also as ‘bacon’(beikon). Cartilege is processed as kabura, as described
elsewhere in this report, and served instead of radish withwhale sashimi during special meals. Internal organs, suchas the kidneys and the small intestine, are boiled and thenfinely sliced; the heart is eaten diced, grilled and servedwith soy and ginger.
Meat from the sperm whale, and minke meat when there
was an abundance, might be processed as tsukudani; thegelatinous meat from the base of the spine would be boiled
with mirin (sweet sake), ginger and soy sauce, set and cut
as kanten. Any whale meat might be processed as misozuke,
sliced, put into miso, sliced and grilled, or as yaki kujira —dipped in soy, dried then grilled, and as sukiyaki (lightly
cooked with vegetables in a broth). Whale meat might also
be fried in butter, and tail meat (sarashi kujira) is eatensliced, blanched in boiling water then cold water, and eatenwith vinegar. In addition, some people make up a kujirajiru, a stew made with meat and/or blubber and vegetables,
but this is not a feature of New Year’s cooking as it is innorthern Honshu or in Hokkaido. Local recipes for kurjirajiru vary, like most dishes, according to household, but often
include both red meat and blubber, green onion, soy beancurd, konyaku, miso, potato, burdock, carrot, and radish.
The vegetables would be fried with blubber, then cookedin water. The raw meat, stock, tofu, spring onion and miso,
would finally be added and the stew brought to boil: large
households would often cook up enough for a number ofmeals. Meat may also be fried up as tatsutage (deep friedin a batter with grated ginger), or made into a curry: chopped
meat and blubber, without the oil extracted, would be sliced
fine and curry powder added; it was, according to
informants, “a pretty greasy sort of dish.” (Field notes,
1989). Meat from sperm and minke whales would also bedried (hoshiniku) or salted and dried, thereby providing
households with a continuing supply of meat throughA. Food preferences“People living here have to eat whale meat.
They can’t live without it.” (Field notes, 1989)
The people of Ayukawa set themselves apart from otherpeople on the basis of food preferences. At a first level, thedistinction is made between the consumption of whale meatand other animal products: hence Japanese eat whale,
westerners eat pork and beef. Related to this is theiremphasis on the full use of the whale: Ayukawa villagers
frequently claim, “we eat every part of the whale . . . there
is no waste.” In light of this, the moratorium makes little
sense to the people of Ayukawa:“We cannot understand why we can’t eat whale
meat anymore, when Americans eat beef and pork.
So what’s the difference between this and whale?
I really miss not having whale meat. It’s been aterrible year. We eat all parts of the whale, youknow, so we don’t waste any: we really can’t
understand it.” (Field notes, 1989)
But in addition, villagers stress their familiarity withwhale meat as opposed to others from Japan, and women
who have married into the village speak at length at theirneed to be taught to prepare whale meat by their mothersin-law, and of the change in diet determined by marriage
and residence in Ayukawa. Further, Ayukawa people are,in their representation, people who eat fresh minke whalerather than other kinds of whale meat: the availability offrozen minke, caught in the Antarctic, and of Pilot whale,
Baird’s beaked whale, sperm or fin whale does not, in theirminds, disprove their claim that “there is no whale meat
anymore.”Central to this account is the emphasis that villagers
give to people’s eating patterns: offered a variety of foods,
it will always be the whale meat sashimi that goes first:“If you serve sashimi — tuna, bonito and whale— then all the whale will be eaten first. Everyone
really loves kujira sashimi here.” (Fields notes,
1989)“If kujira sashimi is available then people don’t
want other food, since most people prefer kujira
sashimi over all other food.” (Field notes, 1989)
Associated with the prestige of whale sashimi and thepreference of minke over other foods, is the absence ofsignificant repertoire of other ways of preparing and/or
cooking whale meat. Fresh minke is, according to villagers,
tender and delicate to taste, and villagers claim to be able
to distinguish the age and sex of the whale from the taste ofsashimi. Young, female whale meat is especially prized.
Since fresh minke is regarded as a great delicacy, although
eaten on a daily basis throughout the whaling season, it isregarded as a travesty to process or cook it, and as whaling
has declined, villagers are increasingly less likely to serve
it in any other way: “We just eat sashimi. If there was a lotof meat, then we’d try other recipes, but when there’s only
a little, its just sashimi.” (Field notes, 1989).

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Small-type Coastal Whaling in Ayukawa Draft Report of Research
the winter months. And, as one informant recalled,cooking was an effective disguise of the strong taste ofaging meat:“Even if the meat went off, we’d stew it andthen it was really delicious. Also we’d make a kujira
kanten. We would be given around 2kg of meat if
we helped flense, so we used to eat it all the time.
Even if it was just a coffee break, we’d havetsukudani and kanten as snack food.” (Field notes,
1989)
The reluctance of people from Ayukawa to eat the meatfrom Pilot and Baird’s beaked whale relates to theirperception of the lack of delicacy of flavour of these meats;
resistance to these meats is reflected both in the absence ofgifted meat from the 1988 catch of these two species by
Ayukawa whalers, and by their unavailability in local shops:
the only whale meat sold is from sperm and minke meat.
Informants argued that:“We only like minke, so if it’s not minke, thenwe’d rather not eat it. Of course, if that’s all there’s
going to be then we’ll have to get used to it, I guess.
But we’ve been eating minke for 70 or 80 years.
We are not going to die if we don’t eat it, but, I
don’t know, it’s a real mess.” (Field notes, 1989)“Gondo tastes different: the meat is a different
color. Few people will eat gondo as sashimi here
because we don’t like the taste. Some people will
buy it and salt and dry it, then have it as tsukudani,
but that’s all.” (Field notes, 1989)“People have caught gondo and tsuchi but they
are not keen on eating it. You have to flavour it
really well to eat it. The smell is really different
from minke. We haven’t eaten it so we don’t reallyknow what to do with it. So if we end up with asituation of no minke, then we’ll have to learn how
to handle other meat. But we’d be pretty unhappy
about this: it’s not the same.” (Field notes, 1989)
A lengthy discussion with a whaler and his wife
highlights the distinctions that villagers make between
different kinds of whale meat, and their reluctance to eat
other species:
LM: So Ayukawa people don’t eat Pilot and Baird’s
beaked whale?
Mr A: Well, yes, we do eat them.
Mrs A: But we don’t really care for it. We haven’t eaten
it much. I hate to say it, but...we’ve hardly evereaten it....
Mr A: ...no one here likes to eat gondo as sashimi. And
because there was minke up until 1987, hardly
anybody had gondo up to that time. But they will
have to get used to eating it.
Mrs A: If there’s no minke whale, they’ll just have to.
But we really don’t like it.
Mr A: ...and nobody here eats gondo as sashimi....
Mrs A: Because they just don’t like it much....
Mr A: There was plenty of it to be sold in Kyushu andWestern Japan....
LM: But does it taste very different from minke?
Mr A: In Taiji they catch and eat gondo so they thinkthat it is better than minke. Because they seldom
eat minke whale.... we don’t eat gondo because
we’ve eaten minke up until now. So even if we’retold to eat gondo, we think “Stupid! It doesn’t taste
good!”. That’s how it is.
Mrs A: ...and no matter how expensive it is, we’d still
prefer it to other species.
Mr A: Obachan, don’t say that. Because there’s hardly
any minke left. Even the frozen Antarctic minke.
(Field notes, 1989)
B. Food of the New YearAs we have pointed out above, Ayukawa people —unlike those of northern Honshu, of Hokkaido, andparticularly of the whaling community of Abashiri — do
not prepare a thick soup or stew from seasonal vegetables
and whale meat and blubber (cf. Iwasaki 1988), known askujira-jiru, as the central dish for New year’s eating. New
Year’s fare has much in common with other parts ofHonshu, and includes mame (red beans), kamaboku, madefrom fish and rice flour, mochi (a rice cake made from finely
kneaded, steamed rice) and a soup known as ozoni andvarying in its ingredients from one household to another.
Ozoni can include radish, carrots, yam, dried bean curd,
karatori, salmon roe, herbs, octopus, three different kindsof kamaboku (naruto, made in a pink and white spiral,
kastera, yellow squares, and the conventional pink andwhite half moon form), abalone, and chicken. The
vegetables are stewed with water and soy sauce; the chicken
and kamaboku boiled separately. To serve, a cake of mochi
is placed in the base of the bowl, the vegetables and stock
are added, the chicken and kamaboku are placed on the top.
Other recipes exclude the roe and chicken, but some seafoods,
vegetables, the mochi and kamaboku are always featured. On
the other hand, in Ayukawa recipes, whale meat is not included.
During the first three days of New Year, mosthouseholds served two meals only: a meal of an mochi(mochi with a sauce of red beans) and ozoni sometime
between 8.30 and 10.00 am, and the evening meal, of rice
and a variety of side dishes, from around 4.00 pm. Side
dishes include cooked fish, and a number of small symbolic
dishes: of kuromame (black beans), served because of thehomonymity of mame (beans) and in the expression forgood luck; of tazukuri (anchovy) symbolising prosperity,and kazunoko (herring roe), symbolising fertility. On the
fourth day of the New Year, villagers conventionally eat
yam and rice, in order to regain some harmony after the
gastronomic riches of the preceding days.
Whilst special New Year’s food does not include
whale, New Year is also a time for the consumption ofwhale meat, both because it has been, in the past, the major
food item of all villagers — in some households eaten
three times a day — and because it is the preferred food:“It’s customary to eat whale here at New Year. Whale93IWC/41/SE3

isn’t available throughout the year, but people keep enoughin the freezer so they can use it at New Year also.” (Field
notes, 1989) Whale meat, particularly sashimi, is both thestaple and the prestige food, and no ceremonial occasion,
including New Year, would be complete without it. Hencevillagers were extremely grateful to receive meat throughthe auspices of the Town Office at the end of December,and all New Year evening meals included whale meatsashimi as the central plate.
In addition to the inclusion of whale meat in New Year’s
fare, whale has also been central food in the formal, public
meals of the New Year: the lunches held at the Kumano
Shrine on 2 January, attended by representatives of some
50-60 households in the village, and at the Koganeyama
shrine on Kinkasan on 3 January. In 1989, there was nowhale meat at the Kumano Shrine, but it remained the major
food item of the Koganeyama meal. In her speech of
welcome to members of the Gokanichikai confraternity ofthe shrine, predominantly villagers from Ayukawa, the headpriest of the shrine commented:“We didn’t know is we could get whale meatsashimi for today’s meal but thanks to your cooperation we can provide it this year. Since whalesashimi is eaten each year in Ayukawa we could
not possibly have had this meal today without it,
and so we are deeply grateful to those who haveprovided it.” (Fields notes, 1989)
Another priest of the shrine elaborated the importanceof whale meat, underlying its significance not only because,
as implied above, it is the staple food of the people of
Ayukawa, but also for ritual reasons:“There is a close tie between this shrine andwhale meat. After prayer, we have a meal, callednaorai, and the dish is from the shrine. From theold days we have had whale meat and regard thisas necessary: we offer to the gods whale meat
despite the usual injunction of red meat. Now wemight serve chicken also, a whole chicken. If there
is no chicken, then we’d offer an egg. After a whale
catch, meat is brought to the shrine and offered to
the kamisama (gods). So it’s necessary to havewhale meat for this meal: if whaling was prohibited
then we’d also be in trouble.” (Field notes, 1989)a) Whaling Crews
Most Ayukawa workers have not actually been
employed on whaling boats, but the whaling crews have
without a doubt been a major focus of community identity,
and whaling crew members have traditionally enjoyed highprestige. In the heyday of whaling as it is remembered by
local residents, whalers are described as generous
benefactors of the community and as the primary rolemodels for young men. Since so many Ayukawa people
were involved in whaling, nearly everyone has numerous
relatives so involved, and therefore there is no one who isunfamiliar with whaling life.
Patterns we found during this period of research seemto echo trends seen much earlier in the century, as recalledin the reminiscenses of an Ayukawa doctor writing about
the town in the period from roughly 1905 to 1945; Ibuki
Kozo, Harukanaru Ayukawa (Memories of Ayukawa),
Sendai: Seitosha, 1977.
“In Ayukawa people didn’t buy whale but
received it from the companies (Ayukawa de wa
geiniku wa kawanai de, kaisha kara morau koto ni
natte ita). You’d bring it home in square blocks
with a hole in the middle, tied together with a roughrope and hung from a pole. You’d get more if you
sent a young woman for it.”
When a whale was caught the boat would sound its
steam horn, one blast per whale.
“Then Ayukawa entered a state of war.
Everyone put on their oily smelling work clothes
and hurried to the company with pine torches
blazing. Sometimes a single ship would come inslowly, dragging as many as eight whales, and onnights like that, people worked through the nightby torch light. The flensers ate their meals at theircanteen standing up. ‘You eat just like a flenser!’was what we would be told when our table manners
were bad.
“In summer when a whale boat returned after
two or three days chasing whales they would open
the whales’ abdomens, and if you prodded themwith a flensing knife they’d let out a brown steamof foul-smelling gas. Onlookers would flee fromthe terrible smell, shrieking ‘Waa!’“When whales passed close to Kinkasan on asummer’s morning, it was a beautiful sight to behold
the 12 catcher boats setting out from the harbor one
after another, belching smoke.” (pp.40-41)
A 60-year-old former whaler (previously involved in
STCW, LTCW, and Antarctic whaling) described his own
childhood memories of whalers and whaling with great
nostalgia, pointing out that as a child he ate whale almost
daily, and that his father had originally moved to Ayukawa
to sail on a whaling boat, and that his elder brother andwife’s elder sister’s husband were all involved in whaling.
He remembers Ayukawa as the liveliest town of the

WORK AND EMPLOYMENT IN AYUKAWA
A. Occupation and employment in Ayukawa
Nearly every household in Ayukawa was involved inwhaling before the moratorium, either directly or indirectly,
and consequently the economic base of the town and theidentity of its residents are both inextricable from whaling
and severely undermined by the moratorium on whaling.
This section of our report outlines the moratorium’s impact
on patterns of work and identity, beginning with a brief
account of the town’s major categories of whaling-related
employment before whaling ceased.

94

Small-type Coastal Whaling in Ayukawa Draft Report of Researchpeninsula, with lots of entertainment places and lots offoreign whalers.
Whaling provided this informant with his major imagesof abundance and happiness. Each year began for him withwhaling, as on New Year’s day at 8 am all the catcher boats
blew their sirens at once (a custom which continued until1945), and they would shoot off three harpoons. He and his
family and friends went to the harbor and were served withall kinds of whale dishes by the whalers on the New Year.
As a child he would spot whales off Kinkasan. He would
swim out to the whales tied in the bay and climb up on
them. When a half-dead one was brought into port he would
pour water into the spurt in order to make it blow. He andhis friends would swim out to the whale ships, and thewhalers would pull them out of the water and give them ameal. They loved children. They were kind to children andwould give them abalone by the armload. Back on shore,
the flensers would give away as much as 10 kg to a child,
who would then take it home on a pole. This informant
thus associated whalers with generosity and kindness in
his earliest memories of childhood, and from an early age
he desired above all else to become a whaler himself,
idealizing whalers as benefactors and as having a sincere
dedication to the community’s welfare.
In 1953 this informant started whaling and continued
until the moratorium took effect. He was an engineer andthought of whaling as a profession on which his life
depended. He talks about the teamwork involved in whaling,
and about the way older whalers helped him mature into agrown man and an accomplished whaler. On an STCW boat
there were rather informal senior-junior (senpai-kohai)
relations which existed to help new crew members learn
their duties and the full spectrum of whaling techniques.
The crew created solidarity through socializing and teaching
the younger to obey orders. The engine group had a subleader responsible for training new crew. Senior-younger
relations were very strong, with the authority of the senpai
absolute. The head engineer consulted with the captain, andthen orders came down to the junior workers. But there
was always a forum for the younger to express theiropinions. These authoritative relations were maintained only
on board the boat; on shore everyone was free, so long as
he returned to the boat on time. The companies did not try
to control their employees off the boat. As described below
in reference to flensing, senior-junior relations were rather
more formalized in the case of Antarctic whaling.
The paternalistic character of the senior-junior relations
was echoed in the relation of the company to its employees,
and thus the companies took a broad view of their interestsin the on-shore lives of employees. This was more prevalent
in STCW than other types of whaling. When a member ofan employee’s family died, the company would send atelegram and tell the man to return home immediately. The
company would donate to the funeral expenses, and thefellow crew members would also take up a collection tosend flowers. Crew members would contribute to auspicious
occasions in their colleagues’ lives such as births andweddings. The companies would also help find spouses fortheir employees.
Other villagers share these images of Ayukawa,
particularly during the ‘heyday’ of whaling, in the 1950s
and 60s. Men commonly speak of their aspirations aschildren to be whalers, and of their pride in the job:
“When I was young, you were really proud tobe a whaler. Of my classmates, say 40 or 50 of them,
most became whalers; only 4 or 5 furthered theireducation and did other jobs. We were proud to bewhalers. We got whaling from our ancestors....
People can do other kinds of work, but catching
and flensing whales is just the kind of work for
Ayukawa people.”
The prestige of whaling accrued not only to the whalers
but to the town of Ayukawa itself, making it a desirable
place to live in the minds of other people in the region.
Villagers speak of Ayukawa as being the “busiest place outof Tokyo,” as being cosmopolitan, sophisticated, and friendly:“When outsiders got into town, we’d be real
friendly — we’d always say ‘good morning’ and‘hi’ to them and we weren’t at all wary of them.
You know, we still keep in touch with them —people from Kyushu and Nagoya and Hokkaido andNagasaki and so on.”The view of Ayukawa among people from the islandof Ajishima provides further illustration of the status of
Ayukawa within the region.
Hardly anyone from Ajishima became a whaler,
although a couple of harpooners were born on the island.
Most Ajishima fishers were conventional fishers for bonito,
cod and shark (the latter sold in Ishinomaki for tsukudani).
They practised line fishing, and, from the Meiji period,
large-scale net fishing.
There is a long history of marriage relations between
Ayukawa and Ajishima, and according to the official town
history of Oshika Town, Ayukawa people were more likely
to contract marriages with Ajishima people than withpersons originating anywhere else in the township but
Ayukawa itself. There was, however, not an equality inthis exchange but a marked tendency for more Ajishimapeople to try to marry Ayukawa people than the reverse.
In other words, Ayukawa men and women were, in theeyes of Ajishima people, highly desirable as spouses, while
the reverse was not necessarily true. This is to say that
there were many incentives for Ajishima people to marryinto Ayukawa. Ajishima women were attracted by thesalaries that whalers made, but Ayukawa men had little
incentive to seek marriage partners from Ajishima, since
the island did not offer significant employment or businessexpansion possibilities.
This assessment of the advantages in an AyukawaAjishima marriage has been directly affected by the95

IWC/41/SE3

Figure 1:

contraction of Ayukawa’s economic base. It is now more
preferable for Ajishima women to marry an Ayukawa man
and then settle in Ishinomaki or some other larger town, thanto marry an Ayukawa man and settle in the village. Thereis little work now available in either Ayukawa or
Ajishima, and for this reason the prestige of Ayukawa
has declined.
B. Flensing
Images of whalers typically constellate around the
harpooner, whose occupation is certainly the mostprestigious and best-paid. Most whalers, however, held
occupations other than that of harpooner or captain: they
included drivers, engineers and engine room attendants,
cooks, deck hands, and flensers. Flensing for small-type
coastal whaling offshore of Ayukawa was land-based. When
the STCW boats were working off Hokkaido, flensing wasundertaken in part on board the boats, with assistance from
Hokkaido land flensers. Flensing for LTCW and pelagic
whaling was undertaken on board the ‘mother boat,’ withrefrigeration ships regularly returning to Japan with flesh
whilst the catcher and mother boats remained at sea.
Flensing tends, in Ayukawa, to be a family-based
occupation: hence the sons of flensers are most likely toseek employment as flensers, either on ships or on land,rather than to move into other areas of whaling. Flensers
are proud of their skill, and speak with some passion of
their occupation:“Some jobs, you can master in 2 or 3 years, but
this is not true for whaling. For flensing, it takes agood ten years to truly master the skill. After about
8 years at it, you’d be pretty good — you don’t just
cut up the whale, you really need to know how tohandle each part. The people who were involved in(land-based) flensing would hear the steam siren
go off, and they’d all rush down to see the whale
come in. Sometimes there’d be 10 boats down there(at the harbour) with whales — we really depended
on whaling.”
Organisation of labour among flensers working inpelagic whaling reflects the complexity of work-basedsocial structure and of the hierarchical relationships thatcharacterised the life of whalers. On the mother boat, one
man would be appointed incho (leader) of the occupationalgroup, responsible for group integration, the organisationof labour, allocation of tasks, ensuring supplies, equipment
and so on. He would be supported by the fukuincho (viceleader). Both of these positions were company
appointments, made before the ship left port. Incho andfukuincho were not necessarily senpai, since skill ininterpersonal relationships was premium. However, they
were more likely to be senpai, since they enjoyed seniority
and commanded the respect of others.
Each occupational group, including that of the flensers,
was divided into sub-groups (han), with an appointed
leader (hancho) responsible for work on the floor and theimmediate allocation of duties. The four han included thatfor men involved in flensing proper (the kaibô-gakari),

Occupational Inheritance Among
Flensers
=

=

=

=

=

=

=

B

=A

=

=

=

=

( b.c. 1925 )those involved in the finer cutting up of meat (nikusaikatsu), those working in the processing and boiling ofbones (hone-gakari)d, and those involved in making bacon(une saikatsu). Another group of whalers, organised
similarly to the flensers, were responsible for the extractionof whale oil. These groups were subdivided into working
shift groups, with each group working for eight hours,
resting for eights, working for eight, and so on. The
exceptions to this were the incho, who worked a twelve
hour shift from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm, and the fukuincho
who took control of night work. When there was a lull incatching, workers would socialise and take care of personalaffairs.
Relations between senpai and kohai (master andapprentice) within the flensing group parallel thosedescribed above for small-type coastal whaling, althoughpelagic flensers emphasize that social relationships on theboat were not primarily structured along these lines, andthat “within whaling, all men are the same . . . we all sleepand eat and bathe together, and there’s really no room forstanding on status or having formal hierarchicalrelationships.” (Field notes, 1989) A number ofoccupational groups were characterised by senpai-kohai
relations, including the cooks and harpooners, although not
the drivers, all of whom needed a licence and were therefore
qualified before being taken on.
As we have already indicated, flensing was pretty mucha family occupation. The complex genealogy of one flenser
illustrates this well: as the informant of this genealogy
argued, “You can’t understand anything about the Japanese
if you only look at one generation.” (Field notes, 1989)
Figure 1 provides an incomplete representation ofoccupational inheritance within one family, insofar as it
does not give the full family relationships to flensing andother whaling related occupations of A’s wife B. However,the figure makes clear that all men in A’s family were
flensers, and that a number of the women of the household
married sons of other flensers. These men were employedvariously in small-type, large-type, and pelagic whaling.
Other families, related to this household through marriage,
where also involved in whaling and whaling-related
occupations.
96

Small-type Coastal Whaling in Ayukawa Draft Report of Research
Inheritance Patterns in Kabura
Production Family

Figure 2:

C. Kabura production
Kabura was made from the cartilege of whales.
Processing involves shredding and drying; when softenedwith water, it is then ready for use instead of grated radish
as a base on which lie whale sashimi. Expensive to purchase,tasteless and with a slightly crisp but chewy texture, it isregarded as a gourmet food item. It appears to have been
eaten in Ayukawa and its environs primarily at large parties,
but it is purportedly a popular food with Osaka people andmuch of the kabura manufactured in Oshika-cho found its
way to retail outlets in Osaka and the whale restaurants ofTokyo. Fresh cartilege, from whales caught off the coast of
Ayukawa, had to be used in kabura production; thehousehold involved in kabura production would be notified
when a whale was brought in for flensing, and would assist
in the flensing operation, thereby securing the cartilege at a
discount price (50kg for the asking price of 30kg)e andgaining gifts of meat for household consumption at the sametime. Cartilege from whales caught off Hokkaido, or from
northern or Antarctic catches, is frozen and becomespowdery: this powdered cartilege cannot be used for kabura
but was apparently used in topical pharmaceutical products,
including in eye drops and in ointments for muscular pain.
Kabura was made by one family in Kugunari, thevillage adjacent to Ayukawa and within the same town
(Oshika-cho) from around 1915 and until 1987, when
the last minke whales were caught off Ayukawa waters.
The technique was learnt from Taiji whalers, and washanded through the family for four generations. The
founder of the family-based occupation was born in
Kugunari, and as the genealogy illustrates, the family
employed a variety of adoption mechanisms in order tomaintain the honke and the occupational tradition. The
founder [A] (see Figure 2) had been adopted into thehousehold on marriage because of the absence of a maleheir, and initially took on the responsiblity of the family’s
fertiliser processing business, using waste whale
products. Whilst still alive, he seceded to the husband[B] of his eldest daughter’s (of his first of three wives);
this man temporarily managed the business until theeldest son [C] reached maturity. C was assisted by a son[D] who he had adopted as a child, but when C died at
the age of 39, he was succeeded by his biological son[E]. E died at the age of 27. His wife [F] then took overthe management of the business in association with thehusband [G] of their eldest daughter [H], who had also
been adopted into the family in the absence of sons. G
himself was the younger son of the owner of a whale
fertiliser factory. When F died, the adopted son and eldest
daughter continued the business.
The work of the business was primarily a family
affair, and was a subsidiary activity to the fertiliser
business until it closed during the pacific War.
Employees used to help with kabura production, in thefertiliser industry, and in rice and vegetable production.
During the 1950s, when the whaling industry and kabura
production was at a peak, three employees lived with

=

A

B

=

F

(8th generation honke)

=

C

=

=

EÂ

=

D

=

(H: b. c. 1933)
G

= F

=H

=

=

=

=

the family, but others, predominantly wives of fishermen,
worked on a part-time basis. At the time that the present
generation took over the business, in 1949, there werefour or five employees; in the 1950s and 1960s, there
were around seven part-time workers, all employed on adaily basis and working usually mornings only.
As explained above, kabura is made from cartilege(nankotsu). This is grated finely, then washed in water.
The shredded cartilege is then placed in a cane basket andfoot pressed for 10 minutes: the cartilege from one minke
might yield two to three baskets of cartilege for treading,but a sperm or sei whale might require 17 or 18 baskets tobe trodden. Whilst grating was mechanised after the war
by using a hand-fed electric shredder rather than a
traditional kanna (grater), foot pressing continued to 1987
and was a task undertaken by the male household head.
After the treading, the cartilege is soaked in water foraround 48 hours, with water being changed around threetimes, until it is clean and there is no blood left. Part-timeworkers were responsible for drying the cartilege:
spreading the clean kabura on tatami mat sized meshdrying racks (175 cm x 89 cm), which were placed on
tressles for sun drying. Five to 10 frames were needed forone minke whale; bigger whales would take 40-50 frames.
In summer the kabura would be dry in 3-4 hours, in winterthis would take a full day, with the kabura being placedin a shed overnight if necessary. During busy periods, there
might be as many as 60-70 frames drying. In wet weather
the kabura was kept in water, with the water being changed
regularly to prevent mould: it could be kept for about a97

IWC/41/SE3

week through this method; and once dried the kabura
would last for 2-3 years. Whilst part-time workers were
employed to spread out the kabura for drying, membersof the family were responsible for packaging thefinished product. One tatami mat of kabura would yield
15 small packs for sale, with each square being folded
and wrapped in brown paper and cellophane for
distribution.
D. Fertiliser production and subsidiary industries.
A significant proportion of people in Ayukawa were
employed in fertiliser factories and in other whaling-relatedindustries, including the processing of sinew for tennis gut
making, a whale-meat canning factory, and a processed
protein factory. The fertiliser factories numbered around10 during the 1950s when whaling was at its height, but
most of these operations were family-based operations
which had been established from the turn of the century.
Fertiliser production utilised parts of the whale notregarded as edible, and including damaged flesh as well asbones and some internal organs. This waste was boiled,ground (in a ‘chopper’) and sun dried flat on the ground in
front of the fertiliser plants; when dried it was shovelled
into large bags (ca 20kg) and shipped off to wholesalers,
who then distributed it, sometimes mixed with fish,to rice
farmers within and beyond the prefecture. Fertiliser
production was concentrated in Ayukawa because of its
stable supply of whale. Companies would employ eight ormore people at any time — when production was especiallybusy, as many as thirteen or fourteen. Whilst many workers
were from Ayukawa households, others came from outsideof the village and were boarded in the houses of the company
owners, typically in a special room set aside for employees.
Women as well as men were employed, usually the wivesof fishermen or farmers from Ayukawa. There was somesexual division of labour: men would do the work that was
physically the most strenuous, women would be responsiblefor drying the ground material, men for chopping andboiling it before the drying. Women were paid around two
thirds of the male wage, although they were said to be ‘hard
workers.’ (Field notes 1989) Employees in the factory
received good money, with special bonus payments thehardest workers; the stench that permeated their clothes andthe air of the village was, according to one villager, “thesmell of money.”
The sinew factory and the canning factory both provided
further opportunities for female employment: both factories
were reported to have employed about twenty women andthree men, the men as supervisors and storemen. Sinew
was extracted from whale meat and then processed into
string for tennis racquet companies in Osaka, Tottori and
Shimane prefectures. The founder of the company also
owned a catcher boat for small type coastal whaling andhad operated a fertiliser factory before the sinew factory,
and distributed whale meat. Production ceased when sperm
whale ceased to be available. Sinew was extracted in lengthsof about 3-4 metres, and was washed in fresh water for athree-four day period to cleanse it of blood. Individual strips

were then picked out by hand until there were very thinlengths; these were then dried, split again and then entwined
and glued by hand.
The canning factory opened after the Pacific War, andwas another site of employment for women. Meat from
sperm, blue, sei, fin, and humpback whales, all caught inlocal waters by large-type coastal whalers before
moratorium, was boiled, chopped and put into cans, whichwere then sealed and sterilised.
The processed protein factory bought up meat andbones, particularly of sperm whale after the extraction ofoil. This material was then boiled and reduced to a richsemi-liquid protein, them mixed with other nutritive
additives to produce animal and fish feed. The plant wasestablished in the mid 1950s, and continued to operate until
1987. As a subsidiary activity, the plant also packaged
minke whale, frozen, for human consumption, and madehoshi niku and tsukudane for local sale and consumption,
and acted as a broker of meat between local companies andthe markets of Sendai and Tokyo.
In addition to these, a number of shopkeepers, often
former whalers, organised the production of craft items —jewelry from whale teeth, model ships using baleen, wallets
and belts from skin; many of these items were made within
the village and were sold in local souvenir stores. The
extensiveness of these goods in stores in 1988-89 provides
some evidence of the work of these artisans in days past.
a) Continuities with demographic patterns
throughout rural Japan
While Ayukawa and other whaling towns are uniquely
affected by the 1988 moratorium on whaling, they sharewith the rest of rural Japan a number of demographic trends
which make an already stressful situation much worse. Of
these, the most conspicuous are depopulation, ageing of
the population, shrinking employment opportunities, andoutmigration.
i. Depopulation
From 1955 to 1985 the population of Ayukawa has
declined more than 40 percent, and this decline of 1,550
persons represents roughly one-third of the total population
decline of the whole of Oshika Township, composed of
Ayukawa and fifteen other villages. As of September 1988,
the population of Ayukawa was 2,212 persons.
ii. Ageing of the population
Elderly persons now comprise some 12.5 percent of
Ayukawa’s total population of 2,245 (as of 1985) (Oshika
choshi hensaniinkai, 1988: 106). This high proportion ofelderly persons in Ayukawa comes just at the time whenthose of an age to participate in the labor force are pressured
to move elsewhere to find employment, leaving an
increasing number of the elderly alone or with a spouse, acondition regarded widely in Japan as abject, lonely, andpitiful. In addition, of course, an increasing proportion ofelderly persons represents an added burden on local social
services existing to care for the health and welfare of theelderly at a time when the tax base is shrinking and thetown can least afford to assume this burden.
98

Small-type Coastal Whaling in Ayukawa Draft Report of Research
At present Oshika Town employs one public healthnurse and two ‘home helpers’ to aid in caring for elderly
persons. The public health nurse is charged to provide
counseling services, to assist in the prevention of disease,to provide domicilliary care to elderly persons newly
released from hospital, and, in addition, to care for pregnant
women and newborn babies. The home helpers visit theelderly who live alone or as a couple to provide whateverassistance they can, usually on a twice weekly basis. Oneof the home helpers reported in an interview that her caseload is far more than she can handle, and that there aremany more elderly persons needing help in the town thanshe and her colleague can care for. She said also that theunavailability of transportation to some remote areas makes
it impossible to visit some of the elderly who are most in
need of care.
iii. Shrinking employment opportunities
Whereas Ayukawa used to be considered the liveliest
town in the region, local residents describe its present
condition as “lonely,” “a ghost town,” and these perceptions
are closely linked to shrinking employment opportunities.
At present the town office of Oshika Town, located in
Ayukawa, is one of the biggest employers, employing 201
persons full time and 5 persons part-time. Of the full-timeworkers, 124 are men 77 are women; of the part-timeworkers, 3 are men and 2 are women. To residents of
Ayukawa, this situation presents a stark and objectionable
contrast with the period of whaling’s heyday, when the ninewhaling companies were the most significant employers,
and when whaling and its subsidiary occupations involved
virtually every household in the town in some way. Now
there are more non-working persons than those employed,
not because of an increase in young children, but because
those seeking but unable to find employment are moving
out rapidly. As discussed below, some exwhalers have beenabsorbed into fishing and mariculture, but the greater
proportion of those displaced by the moratorium on whaling
and the concomitant shrinking of employment opportunities
in Ayukawa have either left the area or remain there but
unemployed, with no realistic expectation of finding regular
work in Ayukawa or the surrounding area.
iv. Outmigration
From 1975 to 1985 Oshika Town has lost 4,921 persons
by outmigration, gaining 2,867 by in-migration. Thus outmigration exceeds in-migration by some 52 percent. In
Ayukawa itself between 1975 and 1988, the population has
decreased from 2,612 to 2,212, a loss of 400 persons or 15
percent. Outmigration is a direct consequence of reduced
employment opportunities, and for that reason, there is little
prospect that the overwhelming trend to outmigration canbe stemmed, let alone reversed. Furthermore, the fact ofthe population’s ageing means that the tendency to decrease
will not be compensated for by new births. Whereas young
men leaving school in the heyday of whaling would havebeen absorbed immediately into some part of the whaling
industry, the disappearance of these opportunities meansthat this age cohort is now pressured to leave the area tofind work, further decreasing the proportion of working to
non-working residents of the town.
Statistics on unemployment do not fully represent thesituation of work in Ayukawa, because they do not takeaccount of the fact that many people have left Ayukawa inorder to avoid becoming unemployed there, where there
are few opportunities for re-employment. In the statistics
kept by the Oshika Town Office, ‘unemployment’ is definedas the number of healthy perons who have the intention towork, who apply for unemployment insurance, and who
request the assistance of the Town Office’s Employment
Security Bureau in finding work. This means that persons
who are unable to find employment but who do not directly
apply to the town office or notify it are not counted in the
town’s assessment. For these reasons the town office’s
finding that in 1985 (the most recent available statistics)
there were 42 unemployed persons in Ayukawa,
representing 3.4 percent of the village’s total work force,of whom 39 were male, does not reflect the existence ofmany other persons of both sexes who want work but are
unable to find it. Nevertheless, this rate of unemployment
is significantly higher than the national average, 2.8 percent
in 1987,f showing that Ayukawa has undergone a major
undermining of its economic base. Those 42 unemployedpersons in Ayukawa in 1985 represented more than 40
percent of all persons unemployed in the fifteen villages of
Oshika Town in that year, and one can surmise from that
proportion that unemployment in Ayukawa is significantly
worse than elsewhere in the town.
Numerous informants were interviewed on the subjectof how many of their classmates had remained in Ayukawa
after leaving school, and the consensus was that fewer than
10 percent have remained from graduating classes over thelast ten or fifteen years. Of these, a significant proportion
have been first sons who feel obligated to stay on to care
for ageing parents and to carry on the family name at theplace of its traditional residence. Daughters marry away
wherever possible, and second and succeeding sons almost
universally move out. The reason unanimously cited forthis dramatic outmigration is the constriction of employment
opportunities and the spectre of facing unemployment in asmall rural town with a shrinking economic base.
b) Impact of the moratorium upon Ayukawa work
patterns
i. Time-frame
The moratorium had been foreseen several years before
its actual imposition; hence whaling companies began toconstrict their activities in the town some years earlier. The
whaling company Nihon Hogei is a case in point.
As early as 1985 Nihon Hogei realized that the end ofwhaling was highly probable in he near future. Seeing a
responsibility to give its employees work even after theend of whaling, it established a salmon farming division of
the company. During the 3-year period during which thisenterprise continued as a part of Nihon Hogei, the company
sustained substantial losses due to inexperience andunfamiliarity with the new work. In 1987 the salmon
99IWC/41/SE3

farming division of Nihon Hogei became the independentcompany Nippon Kinkai, which is not a subcontractor to
Nihon Hogei, but which nevertheless maintains substantive
relations with the parent company.
Nippon Kinkai is headed by Mr. Abe Toshihiko, who
was previously the chief of land-based operations within
Nihon Hogei. Thus his headship of the new company
represents one important form of the continuity between
the 2 companies. Since Nippon Kinkai was founded in thefirst place to employ persons thrown out of work by theend of whaling, Abe sees this goal as a continuing missionof Nippon Kinkai; that is to say, the responsibility has notcome to an end simply with the establishment of Nippon
Kinkai, but Nippon Kinkai is still obligated to keep trying
to bring former whalers back into the company in one formor another.
ii. Diversification of whaling companies tomariculture
Nippon Kinkai presently has two divisions; the major
one is salmon farming, and the secondary one is whaling
for gondo and tsuchi whale. Nippon Kinkai operates a boat,
the Dai ni Taishô Maru, for this purpose. There are 8 people
employed full-time in salmon farming, 7 as whalers, and 7
part-timers in salmon farming. This figure does not include
office workers. Meanwhile, of Nihon Hogei’s former
employees, 76 were put out of work by the end of whaling(47 employed on the boats and 29 on land (again notcounting office staff).
Recognizing 4 years ago that whaling’s end wasinevitable, Nihon Hogei started to shrink its operations bystages. It began to make arrangements to sell its salmon
farming equipment to Nippon Kinkai (though of course
Nippon Kinkai had not yet formally come into being). At
each stage a number of employees were separated from
Nihon Hogei and work found for them in related companies
or in companies with which Nihon Hogei did business.
When whaling came to an end in 1988 Nihon Hogei’s
workers in Ayukawa were dismissed, though some few
remained with Nippon Kinkai, when it started its formal
existence in April 1988. At that time also, Nihon Hogei
changed its name to New Nippo, since it no longer madesense to call it a whaling company, which the word hogei
implies.
Nippon Kinkai leases its office space and much of its
equipment from the former Nihon Hogei. Nippon Kinkai
is undertaking to buy much of this equipment, and it expects
to complete that purchase within three to four years. Thus
they are heavily indebted to Nihon Hogei and the company’s
account books will show that it is heavily extended in thisway. On the other hand, Nippon Kinkai is making enoughincome to cover its ordinary operating expenses, to pay
salaries and a yearly bonus. The salaries, however, arebetween one-fifth and one-third of those paid during theheyday of whaling.
Nippon Kinkai was able to buy salmon farming rights
here through the Ayukawa fishing cooperative, but only
indirectly. Membership in the fishing cooperative isrestricted to Ayukawa residents, so the company was unable
to apply in its own name for rights to fish here. Some
employees, however, held membership in the cooperative,
and the company applied through them. These employees
lent their names to the company while it provided thenecessary capital. However, one individual can only acquire
the right to put out two salmon frames, so the possibility
for expansion is quite limited under the present
circumstances. There is, however, a plan for expansion bynational initiative that may produce a bit more room fornegotiation than presently exists, by blocking off the bay
between Ayukawa and the island of Tashiro on the one side,and between Ayukawa and Kinkasan on the other.
iii. Re-employment of some whalers to mariculture
Those former whalers who were taken into Nippon
Kinkai were the younger, more skilled, and those who lived
close by (since the new company was unable to underwrite
the expense of commutation costs for those living farther
away or to house them in Ayukawa). Only 15 were taken
on in this way, and the reason relates not only to the meager
capital resources of Nippon Kinkai, but also to the work
experience and attitudes of the former whalers who were
now being asked to adapt themselves to salmon farming, a
new and entirely unfamiliar occupation.
Most whalers took up the profession immediately after
completing compulsory education and have never had anyother work experience. They think of whaling as “workgranted them by the grace of heaven” (tenshoku). It is theirwhole lives, and to give it up destroys their conception ofself and work. Other than whaling, they have no skills andit is extremely difficult for them to take up something else.
The crew of a catcher boat is liable to originate fromall over the country, with a concentration on historic
whaling areas. They may have been stationed in
Ayukawa, but most of their families continued to maintainresidences and their strongest ties in their home towns.
When their work came to an end in Ayukawa, most ofthese men did not wish to remain in Ayukawa, but tofind work in their home areas. It was extremely difficult
for Nihon Hogei to accommodate this desire on the partof its former employees, because its ties were generally
not in Nagasaki, Taiji, or the other towns involved, but
in the areas presently connected with whaling or soconnected in the recent past. It was generally unsuccessful
in aiding workers desiring to return to a distant home
town in finding a new job. Age constituted anotherdifficult; the average age of whalers in 1988 was around
fifty, and while these men might have worked anotherten to thirteen years in whaling, few employers werewilling to take them on and train them in some new work,
knowing that they could be employed for a limited time
only, compared to the alternative of employing a younger,
cheaper worker.
The age factor not only made re-employment moredifficult but also came at the worst possible time in thelife course. Whalers generally expected to build their own
houses in their forties, and by the time they were fifty,100Small-type Coastal Whaling in Ayukawa Draft Report of Research
they still had the bulk of their mortgages left to pay. Not
only that, but this was also precisely the time when they
faced major expenses for the education of their children.
To lose all income at any point is of course a major tragedy,
but its impact was particularly profound in this case,coming as it did at just the time in whalers’ lives when
they most needed income.
Most of these men who were put out of work in April
1988 have unemployment insurance which will end in Aprilof this year. After that time they will be without any income
at all. Abe personally has found work for some of them,and Nihon Hogei has been able to place others, but theparent company itself has been so devastated by the end ofwhaling that it cannot possible incorporate everyone who
is now out of work. Nevertheless, Nippon Kinkai continues
to feel a responsibility to those still unemployed. This
paternalistic attitude extends to the style of management of
Nippon Kinkai towards its present employees. It aims to
adopt a familial style and to take an interest in a broad rangeof the affairs of its employees. It feels responsible to them
far beyond the paying of the expected salary and yearlybonus. In return, employees cannot take a ‘nine-to-five’attitude toward the company; this is not merely a matter ofreturning the benefice of the company, but because thecompany’s business is the care and raising of living things.
Fish don’t keep a nine-to-five schedule as far as when theyneed to be fed and otherwise cared for, and therefore Nippon
Kinkai employees must be prepared to adapt themselves tothe needs of their charges.
iv. Women’s employment before and after themoratorium
In the heyday of whaling, Ayukawa residents say, thewives of whalers did not work outside the home. Part ofthe prestige of whaling as a profession was that it removed
women from the labor force and enabled men to be theirfamilies’ sole source of support. That situation was in strong
contrast to patterns of family labor in other parts of theeconomy of rural Japan, where it is assumed that womenshare the work of farming, shop-keeping, or whatever theenterprise with which their family may be associated. The
possibility of a life not dependent upon women’s
participation in the labor force was an important part of theprestige and attraction of whaling for both women and men.
This is not to say, however, that women have been absent
from the subsidiary industries associated with whaling, orthat they have been idle in Ayukawa. As discussed above,
women have participated in a variety of capacities in
fertiliser production, flensing, other industries associatedwith whaling, and several kinds of mariculture.
The Oshika Town Office does not maintain statistics
specifically on women’s conditions of labor, but it is theimpression of the officials in charge of general statistics onlabor that most of the women employed in Ayukawa areemployed on a part-time basis. As far as we have been able
to determine, these impressions seem to be correct, and theonly businesses offering women full-time employment are
the Town Office, a garment factory called Sanyo Sewing,a small electronics firm called ASA, and a fish processing
factory which had formerly operated in the production ofprotein from whale meat for animal feed.
Although there was insufficient opportunity for datacollection on this point, it seems to be the case that mostpart-time female workers work nearly as long hours as
their full-time work-mates, but that they arrive later in themorning and work a total of 38 hours per week while fulltimers work for 40 hours per week. Because of this small
difference in hours worked, part-timers are ineligible forannual bonuses, which may amount to as much as fourmonths pay.
ASA produces electronics parts for domestic and export
markets and employs 26 workers, of whom 23 are womenfrom Ayukawa and the neighboring village of Kugunari.
All employees are engaged full-time. Sanyo Sewing is alocal factory of Sanyo Shokai, and manufactures women’souterwear, covering the full process from cutting throughto finishing all garments. The company employs 56 people,of whom 50 are women; men are employed as pressers,
storemen and supervisors. Sixteen of the women are parttime workers, and workers are resident not only in Ayukawa
but from all of the villagers of Oshika-cho. Endo Suisan,
the fish processing factory, employs 26 women and eightmen on a full-time basis, of whom half are from Ayukawa
and the remaining employees from the near island of
Ajishima. During the salmon season, as mature fish arebrought to shore, the workers are engaged in cleaning,
filleting and packing the fish for sale through the local
market and through the Ishinomaki and Sendai central
markets; out of the salmon season, workers clean and fillet
other fish and marine products (eg squid), including frozen
fish and squid caught in the North Sea.
v. The organization of the 1988 gondo and tsuchi
whale catch
Although the catching of minke whale came to an end
in Ayukawa in 1988, a special arrangement was made tocatch gondo and tsuchi whale. The STCW Association
requested an emergency quota of minke, but the government
refused and granted a special gondo/tsuchi quota instead,providing for 97 gondo and 47 tsuchi whales to be caught
in coastal waters by ships and crews of the STCW
Association. This quota was insufficient to allow individual
operation of all the boats of the association, so it was decided
to pair the vessels and their crews to cooperate in the catch.
The 86 crew members were voluntarily laid off and thensome were picked up again to staff the crews for this catch.
The allocation of number of whales per vessel was
determined by the STCW Association meeting in Tokyo.
A proviso of the pairing of the vessels was that one fromeach pair would ‘rest’ in 1988; i.e., one from each pair did
not whale. If whaling should be revived or anotheremergency quota be granted in a later year, the one that
‘rested’ in 1988 will have the next go.
The boats were 40-ton boats, except for the Seishin
Maru from Taiji, which is 20T. The 40T boats take 7-8crew members, while the 20T boat takes six. The 40T boats
101IWC/41/SE3c) Work and identity
STCW whalers have been deprived not only of theirsource of livelihood for themselves and their families, butthey have also had to endure what to them is a direct assault
upon their identity as members of the community of
Ayukawa and as individuals. These changes come about asa result of the ‘criminalization’ of their profession.
Whaling is a profession requiring the mastery ofnumerous complex skills. The apprenticeship of a harpooner
or flenser might last as long as ten years, and the acquisitionof other skills is facilitated through senior-junior relations
on board the boats. While the position of harpooner enjoys
the highest prestige among the crew, the captain, boatswain,
and engineer must also acquire extensive technicalknowledge for the performance of their duties, and they
and all crew members regard their work as an autonomous
profession which they are both entitled and obligated topass on to junior colleagues.
The view that whaling is a profession “granted byheaven” has been mentioned above. This conception of
whaling is in fact a complex understanding of the work as
first, a profession, second, a livelihood, and thirdly it
includes the idea that it is a tradition which must be passed
on to future generations, not only for its obvious economic
significance in the lives of its practitioners, but because itis an inherent good, an honorable way of life worthy ofperpetuation. It is not only that whaling is regarded as‘worthy’ of perpetuation, but that whalers believe
themselves obligated to pass it on.
This understanding of life and work is not dissimilar tothe view that any professional has of her or his work. The
desire to perpetuate the profession included the desire totransmit to younger colleagues the techniques andtechnologies involved in actually catching whales, but it
also takes in the desire to have the satisfaction to nurture ayounger colleague in a more comprehensive way of life.
As junior whalers mature, they want to take a teacher’srole toward their juniors, to look after them and to see themmature not only in their technical abilities but in theirappreciation of the coherent cultural complex associatedwith whaling.
What happens to this view of life and work, then, when
whaling is banned? It is as if we as academics were to be
told today that the work for which we had trained ourselves
for many years, and in the pursuit of which we have spent
our lives and our substance were suddenly declared acriminal occupation, not only unworthy of civilized people
but one that must be abolished form the face of the earth. Itmeans that those who until today had drawn their major
sense of identity from the pursuit of the profession and who
had come to maturity as human beings through its practicewere to be informed abruptly that their skills were no longer
useful or valuable. It means also that former practitioners
would be prohibited from transmitting their accumulated
skills and knowledge to a younger generation and deprived
from the satisfaction of seeing younger colleagues mature.

took crew from all the home ports, so the crews werecompletely reshuffled. The ground for this whaling is all
off Kinkasan. The allocation of the quota is as follows:

Gondo (Pilot whale)
Seishin maru (Taiji)

Pair 1:

1 Yasu maru (Abashiri)
31 Sumitomo m. (Chiba)

Pair 2:21 Sumitomo m. (Chiba)
Kô ei m. (Ayukawa)

Pair 3:

Pair 4:

Taishô m. (Ayukawa)2 Taishô m. (Ayukawa)Takashima m. (Hokkaido)

Odd boat

Katsu m. (Chiba)

Total

22 pilots

22 pilots

22 pilots

20 pilots
11 pilots
97 pilot whales

Tsuchi whale
Pair 1:
Pair 2:

1 Yasu m.
Seishin m.
Takashima m.
2 Taishô m.

99

Kô ei m.
Pair 3:

Pair 4:
Odd boat
Total

Taishô m.
31 Sumitomo m.
21 Sumitomo m.
Katsu m.

supposed to get 9;
actually got 13

94
47 pilot whales

The STCW Association made up the boat pairs,
matching the type of whale with the character of the whaling
ground. The Katsumaru had a crew of only 4 and operated
mainly in Wada because the tsuchi whale is more numerous
there, and the season starts earlier.
The Japanese government has identified 2 stocks in theJapanese range, one south and one north. They assign nosouthern stock because the whales are judged to be very
numerous whereas the northern one is limited. The line issomewhere between Taiji and Wadaura.
The special 1988 quota allotted for gondo and tsuchi
whale gave some relief in the face of the moratorium andallowed for the temporary employment of some STCW
whalers and boats, but there is no guarantee that such as
emergency quota will be granted in succeeding years, andthe overall situation of unemployment among whalers has
not been substantially affected by this limited dispensation.
Any extension or repetition of the emergency quota would
have to be re-negotiated between the STCW Associationand the Fisheries Ministry.

102Small-type Coastal Whaling in Ayukawa Draft Report of Researchand extraordinary generosity during our stay. Mr. and Mrs. Yojiro Toba’s
warmth, concern and care leave us indebted to them, and this report isdedicated to them with our admiration, love and respect.
b. Thus social and structural inferiors pour sake for the elite of the town atpublic functions and younger pour for older at meals where alcohol isconsumed; in contrast tea is always poured by the woman of the household,and in the presence of both mother and daughter-in-law, by the daughter-inlaw.
c. People paid ¥100 to have the block cut into smaller pieces (typicallyinto four either horizontally or cross cut). The cost of the meat to villagers
covered the cost to the town of purchasing it from the Institute of Cetacean
Research, trucking it into Ayukawa, renting the machine to cut the pieces
down, and of time for handling meat. However, there was no profit madefrom this distribution.
d. The bone group was also known as bonso gakari, from the English
bone-saw.
e. In 1987, cartilege cost ¥1800 per kg. This was its peak price and compareswith an earlier price in the 1960s of around ¥300-400/kg. As whaling
contracted, the price began to rise at ca ¥50 p.a.; at the time of the peak, thefamily was able to negotiate a discount at ¥1,600, since only around 2kg of
10kg of raw cartilege was usable, the rest being skin, blood, and flesh.
f. Statistics Bureau, Management and Coordination Agency, Japan
Statistical Yearbook 38th edition, (Tokyo: Japan Statistical Association,1988), p. 71, Table 3-1.

Added to that in the case of many former whalers is theprospect of it being impossible to find any substitute formof labor, an immediate and precipitate loss of income andprestige, and an inability to interact with other members of
the community any longer as a self-supporting member ofit. He who was granted high prestige until today becomes
an impotent indigent, humiliated in the eyes of his children
and the community. In all these senses, the end of whaling
for former whalers is a deep personal tragedy.
End notes
a. We were assisted in the field by Kayo Ohmagari, Akiyo Yamamoto,and Chikako Shiratori, and are very grateful to them for their good humour,energy and diligence. We wish also to express our sincere gratitude to the
Ministry of Fisheries, particularly Mr. Shima Kazuo, and the Institute of
Cetacean Research for their funding and support. We are most grateful too
to Mrs. Shigeko Misaki for her assistance in organising our visit to Ayukawa,to the Mayor of Oshika-cho and to his staff within the town office for theirtime and commitment, and to the people of Ayukawa for their co-operation

103IWC/41/SE3

104

TC/41/STW1

CONTENPORARY SOCIOCULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
JAPANESE SMALL-TYPE COASTAL WHALINGThe attached report contains important information on various aspects of the smalltype whaling in Japan’s coastal seas. The Government of Japan, therefore, submits
this report as one of its documents to the IWC for reference to the Working Group to Consider
the Situation of Various Kinds of Small-type Whaling.

1989

CONTEMPORARY SOCIOCULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
OF JAPANESE SMALL-TYPE COASTAL WHALING
Prepared by
Stephen R. Braund
Stephen R. Braund & Associates
P.O. Box 1480
Anchorage, Alaska 99510
withMilton M.R. Freeman
andMasami lwasaki
Boreal Institute for Northern Studies
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
Prepared for
Institute of Cetacean Research
Tokyo, JapanMay 1989

CONTENTSSTCW and Self-Sufficiency of Small Whaling
Communities ................................................... 112
FULFILLMENT OF TRADITIONAL SOCIAL AND
CULTURAL FUNCTIONS .................................. 112
Introduction ........................................................... 112
Symbolic Value of Whale and Whaling ................ 113
Cultural Value of Whale Meat .............................. 113
Dietary Value of Whale Meat ......................... 113
Non-Commercial Distribution of
Whale Meat .............................................. 113
Non-gifting, Customary Exchanges of
Whale Meat ........................................ 114
Value for Gifting Purposes ....................... 114
Value for Ceremonial Purposes ...................... 115
Value Associated with Regional Cuisine and .......
Local Identity ............................................ 115
Healthy Aspects of Whale Meat Diet ............. 115
Prestige Associated with Whaling ........................ 115
Transference of Culturally Valuable Traditional
Skills 116
Spiritual Relationship Between Whalers andWhales 116
CONCLUSION ........................................................... 116
REFERENCES CITED ............................................... 117
APPENDIX: Figures and Tables Related to STCW
Whale Harvest Locations and Amounts ................ 118

LIST OF TABLES ...................................................... 106
LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................... 106
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................ 106
INTRODUCTION ....................................................... 106
Background ........................................................... 106
Purpose of Report .................................................. 106
Methods ................................................................. 107
JAPANESE WHALING CULTURE .......................... 107
Introduction ........................................................... 107
Historical Background .......................................... 107
Hunting and Processing of Whales ....................... 109
Use of Whale ......................................................... 109
Dispersion and Mobility of Whalers ..................... 109
DIFFERENTIATION OF SMALL-TYPE
COASTAL WHALING ........................................ 110
Introduction ........................................................... 110
Species Hunted by STCW ..................................... 110
Vessel Size ............................................................ 110
STCW as a Coastal Activity ................................. 110
STCW Organization .............................................. 111
Ties Between STCW Whalers andLand Stations .................................................. 111
Commercial Distribution from the Local
Community ..................................................... 111

105

TC/41/STW1

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1:
Table 2:
Table 3:(STCW continued, on a limited basis, to harvest Baird’s
beaked and pilot whales during the 1988 season; see
Table 1.)At the IWC’s 40th Annual Meeting, Japan reported thatthe cessation of whaling in Japan had “caused hardship tothe affected communities in the form of socio-cultural,
dietary, religious, occupational, and psychological stresses”(IWC 1988:25-26). At this same meeting, Japan presented
the findings of the 1988 International Workshop on SmallType Coastal Whaling in Japan (Akimichi et al. 1988). This
workshop concluded (IWC 1988:26):
1) the activity was historically based with centuriesof tradition;2) it is small scale but functional, exploiting
unendangered species and is remarkably stable;
3) a significant proportion of the products is distributed
through non-commercial channels including gifting
throughout many elements of the community;4) the activity has some commercial characteristics but
is not totally market oriented;5) it satisfies regionally diverse diet preferences —no community uses all parts of the whale but ahistorically organized distribution network ensures
total use;
6) the activity has a socio-religious basis.
“Thus, the workshop by its holistic approach, identified
the socioeconomic, cultural, religious and nutritional factorsthat were important to the continued existence of the smalltype coastal whaling communities” (IWC 1988:26). Japan
maintained that STCW within its 200 mile zone shares somefeatures occurring in both commercial and aboriginalsubsistence whaling and is not properly characterized byeither category. Japan asked that the IWC address theissue of STCW and consider a category of whaling
distinct from both aboriginal subsistence and commercial
whaling. It was agreed at the IWC 40th Annual Meetingthat further discussion of this issue will take place at thenext IWC meeting and that the Japanese position will
“be a matter of priority for the Working Groupestablished to consider various kinds of small-typewhaling” (IWC 1988:29).
Purpose of Report
The purpose of this report is to provide to the Working
Group relevant information on the socioculturalcharacteristics of Japanese STCW to aid this group in
making recommendations concerning a distinct category
appropriate to small-type whaling. All three forms ofJapanese whaling have a common heritage, and many
similarities exist between these forms of whaling (seeTakahashi et al. 1989). However, STCW also contains
special characteristics that distinguish it as a separate
subculture within the larger Japanese whaling culture. Whileacknowledging that some features of STCW are of acommercial nature, this report describes the complex ofsociocultural and economic behaviors and traditions ofJapanese STCW so that this form of whaling can be

STCW Catch Landed at AuthorizedLanding Ports, 1986-1988 ........................ 118
Annual Production From Nine
STCW Boats, 1982-1988 .......................... 118
STCW Catch of Minke Whales,
1951-1988 ................................................. 119

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1:
Figure 2:
Figure 3:
Figure 4:
Figure 5:
Figure 6:
Figure 7:

Figure 8:

Figure 9:

Map of Japan ............................................ 108
STCW Capture Locations for One
Ayukawa-Based Whale Boat, 1984 ......... 119
STCW Capture Locations for One AyukawaBased Whale Boat, 1985 .......................... 120
STCW Capture Locations for One AyukawaBased Whale Boat, 1986 .......................... 120
STCW Capture Locations for One AyukawaBased Whale Boat, 1987 .......................... 121
STCW Capture Locations for One AyukawaBased Whale Boat, 1988 .......................... 121
Minke Whale Capture Locations for
One Abashiri-Based Whale Boat,
1984-85 ..................................................... 122
Minke Whale Capture Locations for
One Abashiri-Based Whale Boat,
1986-87 ..................................................... 122
Non-Cash Whale Meat Distribution
in Ayukawa ............................................... 114

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In addition to individuals listed on the title page, John
A. Kruse, Lisa Moorehead, and Eve Witten assisted in the
preparation and editing of this report. Funding to undertake
this research was provided by the Institute of Cetacean
Research, Tokyo, and the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada.

INTRODUCTION
BackgroundAt the 40th Annual Meeting of the International
Whaling Commission (IWC), the Technical Committee
adopted the recommendation of the Ad Hoc Working Groupon Consideration of the Definition of AboriginalSubsistence Whaling to establish a working group “toconsider the situation of various kinds of small-typewhaling, and to report on its deliberations to the TechnicalCommittee at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Commission”(IWC 1988:28).
For centuries, Japan has been involved in whalingthat has evolved into three distinct forms: large-type
coastal whaling (LTCW), large-scale pelagic whaling,and small-type coastal whaling (STCW). In compliancewith the IWC’s moratorium aimed at halting
commercial whaling, LTCW and pelagic whaling bothwere completely discontinued after the 1987 season, and
STCW ceased its harvest of minke whales in 1988.

106

Contenporary Sociocultural Characteristics of Japanese Small-type Coastal Whaling
understood and defined within an appropriate social,
cultural, and historical context. Specifically, this report will
describe:• the common heritage and similarities of the three
types of Japanese whaling that substantiate theconcept of a Japanese whaling culture within which
STCW is a subculture,• the characteristics of Japanese STCW that
distinguish it from the large-scale commercial
whaling banned by the IWC, and• how STCW continues to fulfill traditional socialand cultural functions.
Methods
This report is based on a variety of sources of data
including published and unpublished documents andfieldwork in Japan. The study team conducted a thoroughreview of the available literature in both the Japanese andEnglish languages related to coastal whaling in Japan. In
addition to published materials, several recently completed
reports on Japanese STCW prepared by social scientists
from seven countries have been reviewed; these reports arelisted in the ‘References Cited’ to this report, in Akimichi
et al. 1988 and in Japan 1989. Detailed catch records
maintained by the STCW companies have been madeavailable to the authors as have the records of several yearsof anthropological fieldwork conducted by Dr. Junichi
Takahashi in the three Honshu whaling towns.
The authors of this report have carried out fieldwork in
Abashiri, Ayukawa, Taiji, and Wada variously since 1986.
Research in each case has been based upon extensive
interviews with individuals in the whaling towns who are
directly involved with whaling (e.g., whale boat owners orcrewmen) or otherwise having a direct relationship withwhaling (e.g., crew family members, flensers, whale meat
processors) or having a less direct relationship (e.g.,
retailers, innkeepers, co-op, temple, or town officials). In
addition to individual interviews, several group meetings
were held either in the whaling towns, or (on one occasion)
with the whale boat owners. The number of individuals
interviewed by all researchers numbers in the several
hundreds and the number of hours of interviews totals
well over one thousand. Much of this research is in theprocess of being published in the international social
science literature; the authors of this report are indebted
to the scholars involved for permission to use theirunpublished reports for the purpose of preparing thepresent document.

et al. 1989:1). In this report, the term ‘culture’ is used in
the recognized anthropological sense to refer to an
integrated and coherent system of shared behavior,
knowledge and beliefs. The term ‘whaling culture’ refers
to the distinctive manner in which whales are perceived aswell as caught, processed and consumed. The catching,processing and consuming of whale products are activities
that take place within the context of particular social
structures that sustain and are sustained by whaling; inaddition, these activities sustain the knowledge, beliefs andvalues that constitute the historical and intellectual heritageof whaling communities.
During the centuries-old history of the Japanese whaling
culture, various forms of whaling have been practiced: net
whaling in the pre-modern period, and more recently,
pelagic whaling, LTCW, and STCW. The historiccontinuities and similarities among these various types ofwhaling that support the concept of a Japanese whaling
culture are described in Takahashi et al. (1989: 1-19) andare outlined briefly below. The differences between STCW
and the other forms of Japanese whaling as well as the ways
STCW continues to fulfill traditional social and culturalfunctions are discussed later in this paper.
Historical Background
Active whaling in Japan probably started in the 16th
century, though evidence of whale utilization by inhabitantsof the Japanese islands predates that beginning by many
centuries. By the end of the 16th century, Japanese whaling
had developed into large-scale commercial enterprises,
perhaps the largest business organizations in feudal Japan
until the modern era started in the late 19th century. During
this phase of Japanese whaling, several boats cooperated
to harpoon whales. The whales were flensed and processed
into food, oil and a variety of other products at shore-based
factories. This form of whaling (tsukitori-ho or harpoon
method) was practiced in several areas in southwesternJapan. Communities such as Taiji and Katsuyama (inWakayama and Chiba prefectures respectively) continued
harpoon whaling for small cetaceans until recent times. As
discussed below, this whaling tradition influenced thedevelopment of modern STCW.
As Japanese whaling continued to develop, the net
whaling method (amitori-ho) invented in Taiji in 1675
gained in popularity over harpoon whaling. In this form ofwhaling, large whaling groups cooperated to drive large
whales into nets where they could be more easily dispatched
before being towed to nearby shore-based processing
facilities. Net whaling spread rapidly throughout
southwestern Japan and continued to dominate Japanesewhaling until late in the 19th century. This whaling method
involved substantial capital investment, and the proprietors
frequently moved their operations from one whaling area
to another, necessitating relocation of skilled flensers andwhalers with each move (Kalland 1989). Feudal fiefs
granted rights to exploit particular whaling grounds inexchange for fees. Whalers paid additional monies to local

JAPANESE WHALING CULTURE
Introduction
Japanese whaling constitutes a cultural complex inwhich its three component forms (STCW, LTCW, andpelagic whaling) are fundamentally distinct both from
whaling as practiced elsewhere and from other Japanese
subcultures (e.g., those based on other modes of maritime
exploitation, agriculture, or craft production) (Takahashi

107TC/41/STW1

communities as compensation for the inconvenience theirlarge-scale whaling operations caused to local residents.
The organization of these net whaling operations, including
hunting and processing procedures, was in many ways
similar to the organization of modern whaling operations(Takahashi et al. 1989: 3-4).
By the early 19th century, whaling boats from theUnited States and Europe began to exploit the whale-richwaters off Japan’s coast. These activities coincided with asignificant reduction in the number of whales the Japanese
harvested in the 1850s using their net whaling method(Omura 1977: 89-90). Japanese whalers reacted to thissituation by moving to new whaling grounds (e.g., off the
Hokkaido coast) and/or adopting the American method ofwhaling (hand-held guns and bomb lances). Althoughneither approach proved successful in increasing whale

harvests, the introduction of the Norwegian method ofwhaling proved more beneficial.
Around 1900, Japanese whalers successfully adopted
the Norwegian method of whaling, characterized by a bowmounted harpoon gun on a steam-powered, ordinarily
steel-hulled ship (Takahashi et al. 1989: 5). Use of thistechnology led to the establishment of many new whaling
companies and land stations along Japan’s Pacific coastand gave rise to LTCW. The combination of theNorwegian harpoon gun and the tradition of hunting small
cetaceans (e.g., pilot whales and dolphins) along the
Kumano coast (including Taiji) using hand harpoons
influenced the development of STCW. In the early 1930s,
a small Taiji pilot whaling vessel outfitted with a
Norwegian harpoon gun was brought to Ayukawa and wasused to hunt minke whales. Thus, for the first time,

Figure 1: Map of Japan

Okhotsk Sea
Monbetsu
Abashiri
Asahikawa
Koshimizu
Shari

HOKKAIDO

SapporoMuroranMatsumaeHakodate

Sea of Japan
Ishinomaki
Shiogama
SendaiAyukawa

HONSHUIKI I.

Shimonoseki

Hiroshima

SHIKOKU

NaritaOsaka
WadauraIse Bay

Fukuoka
NagasakiTokyo
Nagoya Yokohama

Taiji

Pacific Ocean

GOTO
IDLANDSKYUSHU

Stephen R. Braund & Associates, 1989

108

KushiroContenporary Sociocultural Characteristics of Japanese Small-type Coastal Whaling
Japanese whalers hunted minke whales with a harpoon
gun from a small vessel. Pelagic whaling began in 1934
when Japanese whalers brought a mother ship from
Norway that allowed the Japanese to send its first fleet to
the Antarctic. A few years later pelagic fleets also went to
the North Pacific. Thus, by 1935 three distinct types ofJapanese whaling had emerged: LTCW, STCW, andpelagic whaling.
Whaling in all three categories increased in the postWorld War II years and then gradually declined. By themid-1960s, Antarctic whaling peaked with the harvest of
20,000 whales caught by seven fleets. By the 1986-87
season, Japanese Antarctic pelagic whaling consisted of asingle factory ship (over 23,000 tons) and four catcher boats(700 to 900 tons). As a result of the IWC moratorium, thiscompany dissolved in 1987.
The number of boats involved in LTCW peaked in 1952
(42 vessels), whereas the number of whales harvested by
LTCW peaked in 1968. By the 1987 season, threecompanies operated five large catcher ships (400 to 600
tons) that hunted large cetaceans offshore of Japan. At theend of the 1987 whaling season, these three companies
closed their whaling divisions as a result of the IWC
moratorium on commercial whaling.
STCW consisted of 83 boats in 1947. By a 1964
government regulation, these boats were limited to 48
tons and could only hunt small cetaceans (e.g., minke,
Baird’s beaked, and pilot whales). The number of STCW
boats declined from 80 in 1950 (Ohsumi 1975) to nine inrecent years. The current nine STCW boats (between 15
and 48 tons) are operated by eight small companies locatedin the communities of Abashiri, Hokkaido (two boats),
Ayukawa (three boats), Wada (two boats), and Taiji (twoboats) (see Figure 1). These communities have current
populations of 2,223 persons (Ayukawa), approximately
7,000 persons (Wada), 4,313 persons (Taiji), and 43,082
persons (Abashiri) (see Akimichi et al. 1988:26-28 for a
description of these communities). The number of whalescaught by STCW vessels fluctuated around 1,000 from1951 to 1967, with a gradual decline since that time. The
minke whale harvests were relatively stable between 1951
and 1987, with a peak of 541 in 1973 and a low of 220 in
1963 (see Table 3).
Hunting and Processing of Whales
Many similarities in catching and processing procedures
exist between the three types of contemporary Japanesewhaling and the pre-modern net whaling period (Takahashi
et al. 1989: 16-19). In terms of hunting, historic andcontemporary similarities exist in the methods of deciding
on hunting grounds, searching, chasing, killing, andsecuring the whale. In terms of processing, the techniques
used for the various historical and contemporary types ofJapanese whaling are unique to Japan and are designed touse all of the red meat, cartilage, internal organs, skin, flukes
and blubber for food. Flensing and processing require greatcare and skill and specialized tools. Because each part of

the whale is put to a different use (discussed below), flensing
takes years to master and earns the flenser recognizedprestige in the community.
Use of Whale
Use of the whale in Japan has changed little over the
centuries. With very few exceptions, the Japanese, unlike
whalers in many other nations, have sought to use all of the
non-bone parts of the whale carcass for food. A main
characteristic of the Japanese whaling culture is a consistent,
longstanding and diversified usage of edible whale products.
Virtually all parts of the whale have been used, principallyfor food and oil, but also for a variety of other utilitarian
and artistic purposes both in pre-modern and modern times.
Today whale meat is used for food, bones are used for
fertilizer or oil, entrails are used as food, fertilizer, or oil,blubber is used for oil and food, skin and flukes are used assalted food, and baleen, teeth and sinew are used for craft
production.
The whale carcass provides valued and irreplaceable
foodstuffs used in highly elaborated local cuisines. These
local cuisines are famous throughout Japan and are a sourceof pride and local identity for residents of whaling
communities. Production of this elaborated cuisine requires
a specialized knowledge of food preparation, and also
requires that the whale carcass be carefully andknowledgeably butchered; hence the importance of theflenser’s skill and expertise. As a consequence of thisspecialized end use to which the whale is put, Japanesewhalers and processors are faced with a number of technicaland organizational problems common to all three forms ofmodern Japanese whaling, but found in no other whaling
cultures. Moreover, the longstanding and valued use ofwhale as food (see, e.g., Glass and Englund 1989: 46)
reinforces the marked sense of historical and culturalcontinuity as well as occupational worth among thoseengaged in the catching and processing of whales.
The demand for whale meat is nationwide. Related tonational demands for whale, the distribution system isalready in place; in Japan, for many centuries, there has
existed a well-organized commercial distribution system
for whale meat (see Takahashi et al. 1989). One reason forthis large distribution network is that some regional cuisines
do not utilize some parts of the whale, while others do; thiswidespread distribution of whale product ensures total
utilization of whale and prevents wasteful misuse of theresource.
Dispersion and Mobility of Whalers
Another remarkably persistent feature of Japanesewhaling from feudal times to the present is the recruitmentof whale boat crewmen from specific, occupationallyspecialized yet geographically dispersed villages(Hidemura and Fujimoto 1978: 167; Hidemura 1954: 88;
Kalland 1986: 37-39). This feature, also quite pronounced
in modern pelagic and large-type coastal whaling, isstrongly preserved in STCW (Kalland 1989; Takahashi
et al. 1989: 18).

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The high mobility of whalers, from early times to thepresent, is also a marked feature in all types of Japanesewhaling. This mobility involves techniques and capital aswell as personnel, as whaling grounds moved from location
to location. People in areas with abundant whale resources
invited whalers from noted whaling communities to share
their knowledge. Whalers traveled widely in Japan fromthe 17th century onward to learn new whaling techniquesfrom others. Whalers, due to their respected status, wereallowed exceptional freedom to travel in a feudal land wheretravel was strictly controlled (Nicol 1989: 72). These
conscious efforts to facilitate diffusion of whaling expertise
contributed to the spread of whaling stations to suitablelocations throughout the Japanese archipelago. Thus
whalers, dispersed from the Okhotsk Sea coast in the northto the Goto Islands in the extreme southwest, share the same
heritage.

the catcher boats associated with LTCW and pelagic
whaling that range from 100 to 900 tons and have a crew of
20 or more, the STCW boats are small.
STCW as a Coastal Activity
Because the STCW boats are small and have a shortcruising range, their whaling grounds are limited.
Furthermore, it is dangerous to operate these small boats in
bad weather, so they do not leave port on inclement days
(Ohsumi 1975: 1113). Hence, STCW is a coastal fisherygenerally operated on a day-trip basis from two ports1 on
the main island of Japan (Honshu) and from four ports on
Hokkaido (see Figure 1). These ports are Ayukawa andWada on Honshu, and Abashiri-Mombetsu, NemuroShibetsu, Muroran and Kushiro on the island prefecture of
Hokkaido (see Table 1). The boats generally return to theport at night bringing in the day’s catch.
In most cases whaling occurs up to 30 nautical miles
from shore, though often considerably closer to shore; inthe case of whaling in the Nemuro-Shibetsu port area, allwhaling occurs within four nautical miles from shore, i.e.,
entirely within Japanese territorial waters.
As the small whaling boats do not stay away from port
for more than part of each day, the range of whaling isordinarily 30 to 50 nautical miles from the landing port,
and often considerably less. Whaling requires windless,calm seas for optimal operations. In practical terms, sightingof whales occurs when conditions do not exceed windforce,wave height, or swell condition two. These conditions are
satisfied on approximately half of the days during thewhaling season, which extends from the beginning of April
until the end of September2 (see also Akimichi et al. 1988:
20-22).
The advantages of returning to port each night include
the safety of not drifting in darkness on fishing grounds
where other vessels are operating, the opportunity for all
members of the small five to eight man crew to obtainsufficient rest on shore, and the landing of whale meat in
the freshest condition for human consumption. Though
returning to port every night results in greater fuelconsumption and more days at sea when no whales arecaught, the advantages nevertheless are considered tooutweigh the disadvantages.
Locating whales is greatly facilitated by the active
cooperation of all the whale boats and also those nonwhaling fishing boats in the same fishing areas(Akimichi et al. 1988: 41, 47). No electronic equipment
is used for whale location, only whalers using
binoculars. Since the beginning of STCW in its premodern as well as modern form, cooperation has been
the norm, especially among boats sharing the same
home port. When whaling off the coast of Honshu, allwhaling boats cooperate by sharing information onwhale locations, as well as in capturing, towing andprocessing whales. In cases of joint whaling operations,
all proceeds from selling the whale meat are evenly
divided among cooperating boats.

DIFFERENTIATION OF SMALL-TYPE
COASTAL WHALING
Introduction
Although all forms of Japanese whaling have a common
heritage, STCW is in many ways distinct from the otherforms of whaling. Contemporary STCW is characterized
by such things as the species of whale harvested, therelatively small size of the catcher boats and crew, thecoastal nature of the fishery and its close ties with the land
station, the flexible organization and egalitarian nature of
the crew, and a commercial distribution system originatingfrom the land station community. This section addresses
these distinguishing characteristics.
Species Hunted by STCWAs discussed above, Japanese whalers have hunted
various species of small cetaceans for centuries. Modern
STCW whalers primarily hunt minke, Baird’s beaked, andpilot whales, with incidental harvests of other small whales(e.g., Cuvier’s beaked and killer whales) (Ohsumi 1975).
The government of Japan does not allow STCW to harvest
either baleen whales (except the minke) or the sperm whale.
(Prior to the moratorium, LTCW hunted sperm whales andthe larger baleen whales, but not the minke whales.)Vessel Size
Historically, STCW catcher boats have been relatively
small. Up until the end of World War II, STCW catcher
boats ranged from five to 20 tons. Since that time, theaverage tonnage has increased coincidental with thedecrease in number of boats (from 83 boats in 1947 to nineat present). Currently, the nine STCW boats range in size
from 15 to 48 tons (average 36.6 tons) and cannot be larger
than 48 tons by regulation. (See Akimichi et al. 1988: 1820 for a detailed description of the size of each boat.) The
STCW boats are equipped with a bow-mounted 50 mm
whaling gun that fires an explosive harpoon.
Associated with the small size of STCW boats is thesmall size of their crew. The STCW crew generally consistsof between five and eight members. Thus, compared with110

Contenporary Sociocultural Characteristics of Japanese Small-type Coastal Whaling
When whaling off the Hokkaido coast, pairs of whalingboats generally operate as a unit. The pairs may call uponother nearby whaling boats to join them when such a
strategy is seen to be most effective. Even though nearby
vessels may not be invited to collaborate on a particularhunt, each vessel will inform all other vessels by radio
when whales are sighted. This announcement enhances
safety of navigation, and follows a formal rule whichgoverns the question of priority of sighting and captureof whales which is followed by all whale boat captains
and harpooners.
Information on location of whales is also passed on towhale boats by non-whaling fishing vessels. An estimated15 to 20 percent of catches off the coast of Honshu and up
to 30 percent of catches off the coast of Hokkaido result
from sightings made by fishing boats. These sightings
typically come from sand eel and krill fishing boats in thecase of Honshu, and round haul netters, trawlers, gill nettersand crab fishing boats in Hokkaido waters.
The catching areas are remarkably constant due to theshort effective range of the whale catching boats (average
320 horsepower, range 180-450 horsepower) which return
to port each evening and due to the proximity of the whaling
ports to whale feeding or migration locations. Figures 2
through 6 illustrate the catching areas for minke, Baird’s
beaked and pilot whales for one Ayukawa-based whale boat
in each of the five years 1984 through 1988. The equitabledivision of the annual quota for each species is decided
upon at the start of each season by the Japan Small-Type
Whaling Association.
Figures 7 and 8 provide a second example of the coastal
nature of Japanese STCW. The catch areas illustrated arefor a Hokkaido (Abashiri-based) boat which obtained awhale quota closer to its home port and received most of
its annual allocation in the form of minke whales (it caught
only three Baird’s beaked whales most seasons). The highminke allocation was due to the traditional demand for freshminke whale among Hokkaido residents, and the distance
Hokkaido is situated from the traditional consumers of
Baird’s beaked and pilot whales.
In terms of harvest levels, the Japanese STCW whale
fishery has remained remarkably stable over the past several
decades. As discussed above (Historical Background), thenumber of whales caught by STCW vessels fluctuatedaround 1,000 from 1951 to 1967, with a gradual decline
since that time as the number of catcher boats and land
stations decreased. The catch of minke whale, which
represents the largest portion of the harvest (see Table 2),
was relatively stable between 1951 and 1987, with a peakof 541 in 1973 and a low of 220 in 1963 (Akimichi et al.
1988). Between 1951 and 1987 (37 years), the STCW minke
harvest averaged 348 whales per season (Table 3), close to
the average harvest of 320 whales per season for the six
most recent years shown in Table 2.
Another measure of stability is the apparent constancyof the landed volume of whale meat, which for the six mostrecent years averaged about 960,000 kilograms per year
(range: 809 to 1,169 thousand kilograms) made up ofvarying numbers of the three principal whale species(minke, beaked and pilot in descending order). Other species
ordinarily contribute very little to the annual harvests (Japan
1989: Table 6).
STCW Organization
Related to both its origin in pilot whaling and its small
scale, STCW is more egalitarian and flexible in its
organization and activities than LTCW or pelagic whaling(Takahashi et al. 1989: 20). Because the crews are smaller,
individuals are not confined to specific tasks as they are in
LTCW and pelagic whaling. Rather, crew members often
perform a number of tasks. For example, anyone may climb
to the masthead in search of whales in STCW (forbidden in
LTCW and pelagic whaling) or the gunner in STCW may
be both the owner and captain of the boat. The same
flexibility exists at the land stations where individuals often
may perform otherwise distinct sets of activities.
Ties Between STCW Whalers and Land Stations
Another characteristic that distinguishes STCW from
LTCW and pelagic whaling in Japan is the closeness of theties between whalers on the whaling boats and the workers
at the land stations (Takahashi et al. 1989). Because STCW
boats do not leave port for extended periods (as is the casewith LTCW and pelagic whaling) but rather make day trips
in search of whales, they have continuous contact with bothother whaling crews and the flensing and processing
personnel at the landing stations. When a whale is landed,
processing teams and vessel crews are always in close
contact with each other. When the boats remain in port due
to bad weather, social contact occurs between land-based
flensers and boat crew members. This close working
relationship between land and boat workers strengthens thesocial ties between the whalers and the community(Takahashi et al. 1989: 21). Community members often
gather at the waterfront when a whale is landed to assist in
miscellaneous tasks in return for gifts of whale meat (seeGifting below).
The relationship between STCW and the local
community is reciprocal as the whalers are dependent on
the community for the specialized skills associated withflensing, processing and distribution, just as the community
is dependent on whalers to provide them an economicallyand socially valuable product. This interdependence
contrasts with LTCW and pelagic whaling where large,
centrally based companies and distribution networks arecapable of handling much larger volumes of product, andwhere land station workers are regularly recruited fromoutside the community where the whales are landed andprocessed. STCW remains inherently connected to the local
community and, by its nature as a community-based,
operation is not likely to grow very large or independent
from the community.
Commercial Distribution from the Local Community
STCW is also set apart from other forms of Japanese111

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whaling by the structure of the commercial distribution
system that handles that portion of the whale meat not
subject to non-cash distribution. Pelagic whaling wascharacterized by a centralized, national distribution network(Bestor 1989; Takahashi et al. 1989). The whale meat frompelagic whaling was landed at central ports in freezer ships
and belonged to urban, centrally controlled national
corporations. The product was transported to central
wholesale warehouses from where it was trucked towholesale markets to be auctioned to the highest bidder.
The product was marketed primarily to consumers in large
urban centers. In contrast to this situation, the meat from
LTCW was landed in a number of whaling towns, including
some involved in STCW. However, distribution of LTCW
meat to national markets, as in the case of pelagic whaling,remained under distant corporate control with the productdistributed through national networks.
STCW whale meat, however, is landed at one of the
STCW communities (or a nearby designated port) andpasses through local distributors and markets (Ayukawa)or local brokers (Abashiri). In Ayukawa, for example, whale
meat from the boat owners is sold at auction at the local
fish market to the highest bidder. The local fish market
receives a small commission. The bidders for the whale
meat are generally local buyers from either Ayukawa or
nearby Ishinomaki.
In Abashiri, the two boat owners are not members of
the local fishing cooperative, and hence, the whale is not
sold through the cooperative. In this community the boatowners have their own small processing facility, and theysell the meat to a broader variety of people who want whale
meat (e.g., local residents who buy both for family
consumption and for gifting, local Abashiri wholesalers,
and wholesalers from nearby Hokkaido communities). In
contrast to the large volume sales from pelagic and LTCW
operations, which are organized to meet a widespreadnational need for whale products, STCW is primarily intraregional (and only to a markedly lesser extent inter-regional)
with the principal need for fresh, cooked or dried (rather
than frozen) whale meat being satisfied in the traditional
market area served by small-scale family or cooperatively
owned businesses (for details see Akimichi et al. 1988: 1820; 89-91).
Minke whales are not landed at Wada, however,
beaked whales caught elsewhere (e.g., offshore of
Hokkaido) are shipped to Wada for local processing anddistribution. Processors in Wada have sent skilledworkers to teach Abashiri people how to flense beaked
whales in the appropriate manner to satisfy consumers
in the Wada distribution area. The STCW fishery exhibits
functional linkages among the nine boats from four
distinct whaling villages insofar as the beaked whales
from Hokkaido coastal waters are transported to Wadaby the boats catching these whales, whether they are from
Taiji, Ayukawa, Abashiri or Wada. Thus, from the pointof view of the final consumer or the small retailer, whale

meat from STCW originates locally (as opposed tooriginating from a national distribution center), passes
through the local marketing economy, and in the case,of Ayukawa and Wada more especially, sustains the local
fishing cooperative (Bestor 1989: 26; Japan 1989: 31-3
2). One knowledgeable observer referred to STCW
distribution as a “locally originated, interregional
distribution system, not a national distribution system.”
A local distributor may have a buyer elsewhere, but thatbuyer is part of his own distribution network that he has
established. The direction of STCW whale meat
distribution is always from the local community out, not
the reverse.
STCW and Self-Sufficiency of Small Whaling
Communities
In the STCW communities, whaling is important in bothpromoting the local cultural identity of the community as
well as significantly contributing to its economic self
sufficiency. As STCW whaling opportunities decline related
to the cessation of minke whaling, the economic viabilityof these small communities also declines. For example, thefishery cooperative association in Ayukawa is losing its
principal source of income as a result of the cessation ofminke whaling (Bestor 1989). This loss has impacts on otherlocal businesses such as whaling-dependent tourism, andin general, employment options in the community decrease.
Young people leave to look for employment elsewhere andthe overall viability of the community is affected.
As a nation, Japan values the continued existence ofsmall, rural communities. Toward this end, the Japanese
government has a national policy to promote themaintenance of these small communities through economic
subsidies. In some Japanese communities, especially thoseof the core whaling towns, whaling provided a significant
part of the local economic base. As is discussed elsewhere(Japan 1989), the discontinuation (in the case of large-type
and pelagic whaling) and the reduction (STCW) of whaling
opportunity has significantly affected the economics andself-sufficiency of these small communities.

FULFILLMENT OF TRADITIONAL SOCIALAND CULTURAL FUNCTIONSIntroduction
Having established STCW as a modern component ofJapan’s longstanding whaling complex, and having
characterized STCW as a unique form within the whaling
tradition, the following section of this paper examines theways that STCW maintains and fulfills important traditionalsocial and cultural functions as the only remaining form ofwhaling in Japan. Among the aspects of STCW to be
discussed are: the symbolic value of whaling; the culturalvalue of whale meat for dietary, gifting, and ceremonial
purposes; the importance of whale meat for regional cuisine,
local identity, and health; prestige associated with whaling;
the transfer of culturally valuable traditional skills; and thespiritual relationship between whalers and whales.

112

Contenporary Sociocultural Characteristics of Japanese Small-type Coastal Whaling
Symbolic Value of Whale and Whaling
Since the traditional net whaling period, whales, calledisana (brave fish) in Japanese, have been symbolically
identified with strength, growth, wealth and courage (Nicol
1979: 34; Shiba 1988: 60). Social and cultural activities in
the whaling communities center around such symbolic
meanings of whales and whaling. Presently in the STCW
communities, whale symbolism is still evident, and not only
serves as a reminder of the importance of whales andwhaling to the sociocultural and economic life of thecommunity, but also of the spiritual relationship existing
between the community and nature.
Whalers and local people have great respect for thewhale as a provider of a large quantity of food. This feelingof respect is expressed during numerous local festivals
where whales and whaling as a way of life are honored
through the dramatization of the various techniques andtraditions of whaling. Such festivals continue to becelebrated; two STCW communities, Ayukawa and Taiji,
continue to hold annual whale festivals. These festivals areintended to give thanks for the annual catch and to pass on
to future generations the spirit and methods of whaling(Akimichi et al. 1988: 56, 61-65).
Special celebrations, such as New Year and weddings,
are not complete without the sharing of whale dishes, which
symbolically represent the sharing of wealth. The local
people believe that by eating a part of a whale, they will
gain the strength, courage, long life, and wealth that whales
symbolically represent. In some whaling communities,
whale is especially appreciated on Children’s Day when
parents celebrate and wish for the continued health andgrowth of their children. Parents believe that providing awhale-based diet ensures their children will grow big,
healthy and strong.
Similarly, whaling symbolizes men who are brave andmanly. The degree of danger and risk involved in whaling
is extremely high, and the Japanese consider whaling aprestigious job involving an elite group of men who arephysically fit and who come from traditional whalingfamilies (Fukumoto 1960: 112-114). Symbolically, those
who take part in capturing whales and thus bringing wealthto the local communities are regarded as brave, worthy andmanly. This notion historically and currently provides a
positive example for the people in the whaling communities
including whalers and non-whalers, men and women, andadults and children. This is especially true for male children.
From the time they are very young, boys in whaling
communities have dreamt of becoming whalers when theygrow up. The presence of such positive role models has
motivated generations of young members of the community
to learn whaling skills and to aspire to socially beneficial
occupations. Adult members are also influenced by the
positive morale associated with whaling. They frequently
refer to their communities as a “town of whaling” and areproud to be identified with whaling and to be united under
the symbol of the whale.

The whale also symbolizes the whaling culture’s
heritage and serves to promote a sense of continuity withthe past, which is a significant value in the Japanesecultural context (see, e.g., Glass and Englund 1989: 4546, 48). Local people experience closeness to theirancestors through eating whale meat and blubber and areproud to continue their centuries-old dietary tradition.
Whalers also express strong obligations toward theirancestors and the consequent need to maintain and transmit
traditional occupations and life ways; to fail to do so would
be cause for shame and moral disgrace. They believe thatthey need to do the same things as their ancestors did inorder to strengthen ties with them and to accord them therespect that their social and religious traditions demand(Akimichi et al. 1988: 52; Bestor 1989: 9-10).
Cultural Value of Whale Meat
Both historically and currently, Japanese people,
especially residents of former and present whaling
communities, place a high cultural value on whale meat.
Whale meat is important for numerous reasons, including
its high dietary value, its symbolic value in gifting andceremonial consumption, its value for maintaining regional
identity, and its perceived and actual health qualities. The
following sections describe these cultural values that theJapanese ascribe to whale meat.
Dietary value of whale meat
Whale meat is considered “simply ‘good food’ thatcarries with it strong overtones of local identity and identification with a valued way of life.” (Bestor 1989: 14) Residents in STCW communities report that they never tire ofeating whale, prefer it in their diet (Akimichi et al. 1988:
67-70), and feel ‘lonely’ if fresh whale is absent from theirdiet. (Bestor 1989: 14) These opinions are expressed by all
age groups, including those in their early teens. (Nicol 1989:
83)
Associated with this generalized value of whale meatas an everyday food is the locally held view that whale
meat is also health promoting. Whale meat does not containantibiotics, chemicals, or growth hormones and is a ‘pure’
and therefore preferred meat. The ‘natural state’ or ‘purity’of food, i.e., its lack of deliberate chemical contamination,is important in the Japanese culture. Whale meat, rich iniron, is considered to be especially beneficial for pregnant
women and the elderly and is recommended by local
physicians and dieticians. Its long-time inclusion in school
lunch programs relates both to its high acceptance by young
people, as well as the widespread Japanese belief that it
promotes health, strength, and growth (see Healthy Aspectsof Whale Meat Diet below).
Non-commercial distribution of whale meat
People in the STCW communities obtain whale meat
both outside the market system and by buying it. STCW
meat is distributed extensively outside the commercial
market through numerous customary and socially obligatoryexchanges that occur at all stages of whale harvesting andprocessing. These non-commercial distributions can be113

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divided into two broad categories: those that “reflect both
reward for duties performed (as in meat distribution
following the killing and flensing of each whale), and [thosegiven in] the return of gifts received” (Akimichi et al. 1988:
41). The gifting of whale meat for social and ceremonial
purposes, the more personal form of non-commercial
distribution, is discussed in more detail below.
Non-gifting, customary exchanges of whale meat
The non-gifting, customary exchanges take place
between people who are either directly involved with thewhaling operation or who have direct contact with thewhaling operation. For example, a formal system exists
through which whale meat is equally distributed amongcrew members on board the vessel, among flensers at theflensing stations, and among others involved in theprocessing of the catch. In addition, local fishermen who
notify whaling crews about the location of a whale areregularly given meat in appreciation. Exchanges also occur
outside of the official distribution system, such as when
the ship’s cook (usually a junior crew member) uses a
portion of the catch for the crew’s meals or when he trades
whale meat with nearby fishing vessels for fresh fish. When
whaling in Hokkaido waters, crew members distribute
whale meat among local fishermen in exchange for
information useful during whaling operations (Akimichi etal. 1988: 42).
Value for gifting purposes
Gift-giving is a highly developed ceremony in Japanesesociety; the appropriate selection and presentation of a gift
relates to cultural valuation (ascribed worth) rather thaneconomic or material attributes of the item gifted. Giftingis the second way in which whale meat is distributed outsideof the commercial market. These exchanges involve a large
number of people, most of whom live in whaling communities, but who may not be directly connected with whaling
itself. Gifts are given to relatives, friends and neighbors inreciprocation of gifts or other considerations, while visiting,or for special occasions, including ceremonial gift-giving.
In the four STCW communities, the gifting of whale meat
enforces community solidarity, maintains longstanding
customs, and serves to distribute the wealth derived from thewhale throughout the community (see Figure 9).
A common adage heard in all whaling communities
which reflects the cultural tradition of gifting whale meatstates, “Whale is for giving; fish is for buying.” Vesselowners and crew members often receive gifts of sake (ricewine) from well wishers prior to the whaling season.
Farmers and fishermen commonly provide whalers withfresh produce and fish throughout the year in anticipationof receiving fresh whale meat after the first catch of theseason. Meat from the first-caught whale is always given
in return for these gifts, though subsequent gifts may also
be given. Meat is also given to family, friends andneighbors who will in turn give some to their family or topeople who have done favors for them. In this manner,
the meat is widely distributed throughout the community

by means of a wide-ranging, mutually beneficial exchange
network.
The exchange of gifts is a strong tradition in Japan.
Whale meat is among the most honorable gifts to give andreceive and is traditionally presented to family, friends andbusiness associates while visiting. Gifting is so closely
associated with visiting that if people do not provide thesecustomary gifts, visiting breaks down and a loss ofcommunity solidarity results (Glass and Englund 1989: 48;
Manderson and Hardacre 1989: 4). Residents of whaling
communities also send whale meat to relatives who now
live away from home, thus symbolically reinforcing therecipient’s connection with their home community. Hence,
gifting has a social value within the community and also
reinforces customary social ties between communities.
Several special ceremonial occasions require a gift ofwhale meat (e.g., the end of year gift, seibo, the mid-year
gift, chugen, or the first-catch distribution, hatsuryo.)
According to Bestor (1989: 13), ‘the ritual calendar ofannual community events and of the events marking
transitions in individual’s lives (such as weddings) is
intimately associated with consumption of whale, theabsence of which is almost inconceivable.” One Abashiri
whaling captain commented that his father gifted theequivalent of three whales a year, whereas he gifted one to
two whales per year (Bestor 1989: 13). A boat owner in
Ayukawa estimated that he gifted the meat of up to five
whales each year (Akimichi et al. 1988: 45-46).
There is an important symbolic value in the giftexchange associated with whale meat that cannot be
replaced by any other item (see Japan 1989: 23; see also
Symbolic Value of Whale and Whaling above). Whale meatpossesses an assemblage of symbolic and cultural meanings,
and its non-availability can cause a total withdrawal ofparties from the reciprocal exchange, as no substitute is
Figure 9:

Non-Cash Whale Meat Distribution in
Ayukawa

Fishing Boat

Waling crewChildrenísassociation

Owner

Community
CenterSchool

Old peoplei’s
club
Flensing teamRelatives

Neighbors

Relatives

Temples, shrines

Neighbors

Source: Akimichi et al. 1988: Figure 1

114

Fire station

Contenporary Sociocultural Characteristics of Japanese Small-type Coastal Whaling
perceived as being completely appropriate to the situation.
For example, one whaler in Abashiri spent the equivalentof one month’s salary to purchase meat for the importantseibo (end of year) gift because it is so important to honor
his social obligations in the culturally appropriate manner(Iwasaki, field notes, January 1989).
Value for ceremonial purposes
In addition to whale meat being valued at certain timesof the year, it also has a high value for ceremonialconsumption (Takahashi et al. 1989: 21-22). The symbolic
value of whale meat in a dish at a certain time of the year isimportant in the four STCW communities. It is importantto eat whale meat on special occasions such as funerals,
New Year, new house construction, memorial services,weddings, first day of school, Children’s Day, communityand national festivals, launching of a new boat, and periodic
community gatherings by such groups as senior citizens,
local fire fighters, and children’s organizations. The reason
whale meat is included on these special occasions is thatwhale symbolizes good luck, good health, long life, andlocal identity as discussed in Symbolic Value of Whale andWhaling above.
Value associated with regional cuisine and local identity
Whale meat also has a high value as a special regional
cuisine related to home place (furusato) identity. Regional
cuisine serves an important role in maintaining regional
cultural diversity. Although many people eat whale meatin Japan, there are distinct and customary regional
preferences. Different whale species, different parts of thewhale, and different ways of preparing and consuming
whale dishes are the basis for differentiating thecharacteristic and highly elaborated local and regional foodcultures of Japan.
Many people who consume whale live in Tokyo.
Because they are from a certain area specializing in aparticular whale dish, they eat at certain Tokyo restaurantsthat serve that dish. To these people, the opportunity to eat
their home food in Tokyo represents a connection with andaffirmation of their regional identity through the familiar
food associated with their home of origin. The taste of whale
meat varies considerably (depending on the species and partof the whale), and therefore whale can satisfy regionallydiversified taste preferences (see Akimichi et al. 1988: 6768, 92-95; Takahashi et al. 1989: 21).
Healthy aspects of whale meat diet
Many Japanese consumers of whale meat associate itwith a number of health-promoting qualities, including its
intrinsic nutritional value, its ‘purity’ in coming from thesea and as a non-domesticated (i.e., natural) food species,
its usefulness in combatting food allergies, its value inobtaining other high quality foods through local exchange
networks, and its perceived value in maintaining social andpsychological well-being.
Whale meat is iron-rich and the fat does not promote
the harmful cardiovascular consequences associated witheating beef, pork, poultry, or lamb. Therefore, whale meat

consumers, and especially elderly Japanese who require
more careful diet control, have utilized it for its healthfulqualities. In the past, the elderly had easy, economical
access to whale meat. Now, because of the low supply of
whale meat and its higher price, consumers are required
to substitute foods considered to be less healthy (e.g., more
fatty meats such as beef and pork) for whale meat (Japan
1989: 33). Although good tasting and nutritional ‘healthy
foods’ (i.e., naturally caught — as opposed to cultivated— fish, or naturally raised or wild animal meats) areavailable, they are not realistic substitutes for whale meatbecause of their prohibitively high cost and in some cases
unfamiliar taste. In Japan, cultivated fish are consideredless healthy because they contain more fat (obtained
through the artificial feed) and various growth-promoting
and antibiotic chemical contaminants. The fish thatwhalers receive in exchange for whale meat are of a higher
quality than they could afford to buy even if available
locally.
A further value of whale related to health in Japanesesociety is its role in promoting psychological well-being
among both producers and consumers. Whaling serves animportant role in maintaining the identity, longevity, vitality
and social integration of these small whaling communities(Hardacre and Manderson 1988: 28; Manderson andHardacre 1989; Takashashi et al. 1989; Japan 1989). As
whaling and whale meat consumption are centuries-long
traditions in parts of Japan, the continuance of STCW
safeguards against the social and psychological stressassociated with the externally caused termination of thishistorically based and distinctive Japanese fishery (see Japan
1989; Glass and Englund 1989).
Prestige Associated With Whaling
From feudal times to the present, Japanese whalers havebeen regarded highly and have enjoyed considerable social
status in the community. In Japan, whaling is still considered“an honorable way of life worthy of perpetuation.”(Manderson and Hardacre 1989: 74)
Because whalers provide their community with locallyesteemed traditional dietary items, contribute positively tothe local economy and manifest such positive virtues as
generosity and industriousness, residents look up to themand accord them prestige. The prestige afforded to whalersis, to some extent, shared by other residents of whaling
communities. In addition to having a supply of whale meat
for their own consumption, whaling community residents
are also able to give whale meat to those living inneighboring communities and to their relatives who live
away from the whaling community. This ability adds tothe prestige and recognition accorded to the entire
community and enhances its status in the eyes of others aswell as confirming its unique identity. Positive human needs
are thus satisfied by the productive activities of Japanesewhaling communities.
Among members of the STCW crew, there is a ranked
social order. The harpooner, who takes many years to115

TC/41/STW1

acquire the necessary skills, occupies the top position, while
younger and less experienced whalers accord respect to theharpooner and other more experienced and knowledgeable
whalers. Japanese whalers consider themselves membersof an honorable profession with an obligation to pass ontheir skills to the younger generation (Manderson andHardacre 1989: 74 and see below).
Transference of Culturally Valuable Traditional Skills
Japanese people employed in STCW believe theirs is
an honorable profession based on centuries of tradition;
because of this long tradition they feel obligated to pass ontheir skills to succeeding generations of whalers. They view
themselves as the living heirs to a centuries-old traditional
specialization, in a nation which accords respect andrecognition to practitioners of such living traditions. Many
years are required for STCW crew members to learn their
specialized skills (see Akimichi et al. 1988: 28-31). It “takes
10 years to master flensing skills” or to become a harpooner(Manderson and Hardacre 1989: 47).
In Japanese society, the traditional Japanese family“has always been organized around the principle of family
enterprise as an enduring social and economic unit which
ideally exists through generations.” (Bestor 1989: 9). Thus,
from the Japanese point of view, it is important to sustain
those families that live and work together maintaining theoften longstanding family occupational tradition. The lossof whaling threatens the erosion of traditional family
values, especially in these small whaling-dependentcommunities. Conversely, the continuance of STCW in
the four communities serves to actively promote themaintenance of this customary social pattern and theunderlying socially-stabilizing belief system (see, e.g.,
Glass and Englund 1989: 47).
Spiritual Relationship Between Whalers and Whales
Japanese whalers have developed special relationships withwhales that have been transmitted through generations until
the present time. The unique ties between whales andwhalers is most evident in the religious/spiritual sphere of
the whaler’s life and in the whalers’ perception of whales(Akimichi et al. 1988: 53). Many whaling activities, fromthe preparation for whaling to the thanks given for the
harvest, involve some form of religious acts and are
integrated in the Buddhist and Shinto practice of each
whaling family and the entire community.
First, whaling is inseparable from the everyday
religious activities of the whalers and members of their
immediate family. At home, whalers and their wives offer
daily prayers at the family Buddhist altar or the Shinto
altar for a successful harvest and crew safety (Iwasaki,
field notes, 1988; Akimichi et a1. 1988: 64). Whalers place
offerings of cooked rice in the altar on the boat. At the
beginning of the whaling season, they offer communal
prayer at the local Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple(Akimichi et al. 1988: 67). In some cases, such ceremony
is conducted on the boats (Iwasaki 1988). Whalers give a
special prayer for more whales when they are experiencing
poor catches. Finally, when the whale is harvested, partof the whale is offered to the altar on the boat (Iwasaki
1988: 67; Akimichi et al. 1988: 62-64), and part is taken
to the local Buddhist temple as an offering (Manderson
and Hardacre 1989: 21).
The above-mentioned religious activities are partly
motivated by hope for better harvests and for the safety of
the whaling crew. However, what distinguishes whalers
from other fishermen lies in their perception of whales. The
Japanese have categorized whales as fish from thetraditional net whaling period. Because they wereconsidered fish and not mammals, Buddhists could eat thisform of animal protein, whereas animal flesh was otherwise
prohibited (Nicol 1979: 33). This perception is still evident
in the present whaling communities where no animal flesh
is allowed as an offering to the Buddhist temple yet whale
meat is allowed (Manderson and Hardacre 1989). On theother hand, whalers’ estimation of the whale is very different
than other fishermen’s regard for fish. For example, whalers
also recognize the distinctive nature of the whale. One
gunner stated, “We cannot help chanting a prayer when wepull the trigger as we know that we are taking their life.”(Iwasaki, field notes, 1988)
Since the net whaling period, concern for the peacefulrepose of whale souls has been emphasized, and whalers
have been intensively involved in the appropriate Buddhist
ceremonies, with whale tombs built for each whale as an
expression of appreciation for their sacrifice (Fukuyama
1943; Akimichi et al. 1988: 52-65). In modern whaling
communities in Japan, continuing expression of thesereligious values are manifest in whalers’ homes, on whalingboats and in the temples and shrines where whale memorials
exist and ceremonies are carried out (Iwasaki 1988: 66-72;
Akimichi et al. 1988: 57-61; Manderson and Hardacre 1989:
21-27).
CONCLUSIONFirst, this report has reviewed the characteristics of theJapanese whaling culture based on Japan’s centuries-long
tradition of whaling. During this long whaling history,
various forms of whaling were practiced: harpoon and net
whaling in the pre-modern period, and more recently,
pelagic whaling, LTCW, and STCW. The common heritageand similarities of the different types of Japanese whaling,including the methods of hunting and processing whales,
the virtual use of all non-bone parts of whales for food, andthe historic mobility of whalers and whaling operations aresome of the features that substantiate the concept of aJapanese whaling culture within which STCW is a
subculture. Because of this long history of whaling in Japan,
this activity has acquired important cultural and social
significance, especially in those communities where
harvesting locally available whale stocks continues to bepracticed.
Second, this report has outlined the differences between
STCW on the one hand and LTCW and pelagic whaling on
the other hand. Although all forms of Japanese whaling havea common heritage, STCW is in many ways distinct from116

Contenporary Sociocultural Characteristics of Japanese Small-type Coastal Whalinglarge-scale commercial whaling banned by the IWC.
Contemporary STCW is characterized by such things as:• the species of whale harvested;• the relatively small size of the catcher boats andcrew;• the coastal nature of the fishery;• the close ties between whaling boats and the land
station;• the small size, flexible and egalitarian character ofthe whaling crew; and• the existence of a commercial distribution system
originating from the land station community.
Finally, this report has described briefly how STCW
continues to fulfill important social, symbolic, religious anddietary functions in Japan in its role as the continuing
manifestation of a whaling tradition extending throughseveral centuries. This report discusses:• the high symbolic value of the whale and whaling;• the high dietary value of whale meat;• the high value of whale meat for gifting purposes;• the high value placed on whale meat for ceremonial
purposes;• the high value of whale associated with regional
cuisine and local identity;• the health-associated aspects of the whale meat diet;• the high prestige associated with whaling in Japan;• the importance of transferring socially andculturally valuable traditional skills, values, andattitudes from generation to generation; and• the spiritual relationship between whales andwhalers in Japan.
In the STCW communities, this form of whaling has
been remarkably stable over time and is highly integrated
into the social, economic and cultural life of the community.
As described in this paper, other social and economic
interdependencies exist between those engaged in STCW
and residents of the communities where this form of whaling
is based. These interdependencies, the large role STCW
plays in the communities, and the relatively small size ofthe communities has resulted in greater impacts associatedwith the IWC moratorium on the STCW communities thanother communities in Japan (see Japan 1989). Hence, themoratorium is affecting these STCW communities morethan other areas of Japan.

Activities in Hokkaido and Miyagi
Prefectures, Japan. Unpublished report
Fukumoto, K.
1960
Nihon hogei-shi-wa. (History of JapaneseWhaling). Hosei University Press, Tokyo,
Japan
Fukuyama, J.
1943
Hogei no Senkakusha Diagoshinbei (AWhaling Pioneer Daigoshinbei) Nihon
Shuppan, Tokyo
Glass, K. and K. Englund1989
Why the Japanese Are So Stubborn About
Whaling. Oceanus 32: 45-51, Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institute, Massachusetts
Hardacre, H. and L. Manderson
1988
Gender, Space and Seasons: Occupation and
Identity in Japanese Whaling Villages.
Unpublished manuscript. (To appear in
Journal of American Folklore)
Hidemura, S.
1954
Tokugawa-ki kyushu ni okeru hogeikyo norodo kankei. (Labour Relations in Kyushu
Whaling during the Tokugawa Period).
Kyushu Keizaigaku Kenkyu 18 (2).
Hidemura, S. and T. Fujimoto
1978
Sekai Hogei-gyu (Whaling in Kyushu),
Chikuma Shobo, Tokyo.
International Whaling Commission
1988
Chairman’s Report of the 40th Meeting.
Cambridge, England.
Iwasaki, M.
1988
The Cultural Significance of Whaling in a
Whaling Community in Abashiri. M.A.
Thesis, Department of Anthropology,
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Japan
1989
Report to the Working Group on SocioEconomic Implications of a Zero Catch
Limit. Government of Japan
Kalland, A.
1986
Pre-modern Whaling in Northern Kyushu.
Bonner Zeitschrift fur Japanologie 8, pp. 2950
1989
The Spread of Whaling Culture in Japan.
Unpublished report.
Manderson, L and H. Hardacre
1989
Small-Type Coastal Whaling in Ayukawa:
Draft Report of Research, December 1988 —January 1989. Unpublished report.
Nicol, C.W
1979
Ayukawa, Whaler’s Town. Japan Whaling
Association
1989
Appendix III in Report to the Working Groupon Socio-Economic Implications of a Zero
Catch Limit. Government of Japan
Ohsumi, S.
1975
Review of Japanese Small-Type Whaling.

REFERENCES CITED
Akimichi, T., P.J. Asquith, H. Befu, T.C. Bestor, S.R.
Braund, M.M.R. Freeman, H. Hardacre, M.
Iwasaki, A. Kalland, L. Manderson, B.D.
Moeran, and J. Takahashi
1988
Small-Type Coastal Whaling in Japan.
Occasional Paper Number 27, Boreal
Institute for Northern Studies, University ofAlberta, Edmonton, Canada
Bestor, T.
1989
Socio-Economic Implications of a Zero Catch
Limit on Distribution Channels and Related117

TC/41/STW1

Journal of the Fisheries Board of Canada 32:
1111-1121. Prepared for the meeting of the“Subcommittee on Small Cetaceans,
Scientific Committee, International Whaling
Commission,” held at Montreal, Quebec,
Canada, April 1-11, 1974

Takahashi, J.
1988
Women’s Tales of Whaling: Life Stories of
11 Japanese Women Who Live with
Whaling. Japan Whaling Association, Japan
Takahashi, J., A. Kalland, B. Moeran, and T. Bestor
1989
Japanese Whaling Culture: Continuities andDiversities. Unpublished report

Omura, H.
1977
Review of the Occurrence of Bryde’s Whalein the Northwest Pacific. Report of theInternational Whaling Commission (Special
Issue 1): 88-91
Shiba, T.
1988
Kujira to Nihonjin (Whale and Japanese).
Yosensha, Tokyo

End notes
1. Catching of various small cetaceans for food occurs elsewhere in Japan,
but as it does not involve a minke whale fishery, it is not recognizedadministratively as small-type coastal whaling and is therefore outside thescope of this report.
2. Some beaked whales are caught in October in Hokkaido coastal areas.

APPENDIXFIGURES AND TABLES
Related to STCW Whale Harvest Locations and Amounts
Table 1:STCW Catch Landed at Authorized Landing Ports, 1986-1988

Landing Ports
Nemuro-Shibetsu
AbashiriMombetsu
Muroran
KushiroAyukawa
Wada
TOTALS

1986
Minke Beaked Pilot
7
0
0

Other
0

1987
Minke Beaked Pilot
1
0
0

Other
0

1988
Minke Beaked Pilot
0
0
0

Other
0

67

5

0

0

64

5

0

0

0

22

0

3

49
83
105
0
311

0
0
0
35
40

0
0
28
1
29

0
0
2
0
2

27
89
123
0
304

0
0
0
35
40

0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0

0
0
13
22
57

0
0
98
9
107

0
0
2
0
5

1. An additional 22 pilot whales were landed at Taiji.
Source: Japan Small-type Whaling Association
Stephen R. Braund & Associates, 1989
Table 2:

Annual Production from Nine STCW Boats, 1982-1988
1988

1987

1986

1985

1984

1983

1982

Averages/1

0

304

311

327

367

290

324

321

Beaked whale

57

40

40

40

38

37

60

45

Pilot

128

0

29

62

160

125

85

84

Minke

Other

7

0

2

0

0

1

0

TOTALS

192

344

382

429

565

453

469

1. Excludes minke whales for 1988
Source: Japan Small-type Whaling Association
Stephen R. Braund & Associates, 1989

118

440

Contenporary Sociocultural Characteristics of Japanese Small-type Coastal Whaling
Table 3:

1951

Number of
Whales334

1970

Number of
Whales
320

1952

485

1971

285

1953

406

1972

341

Year

Figure 2:

STCW Catch of Minke Whales, 19511988
Year

1954

365

1973

541

1955

427

1974

372

1956

532

1975

370

1957

423

1976

360

1958

513

1977

248

1959

280

1978

400

1960

253

1979

407

1961

332

1980

379

1962

238

1981

374

1963

220

1982

324

1964

301

1983

290

1965

334

1984

367

1966

365

1985

327

1967

285

1986

311

1968

239

1987

304

1969

234

1988

0

Average 1951-1987

STCW Capture Locations for One
Ayukawa-Based Whale Boat, 1984

1984 Season
Abashiri

HOKKAIDO Shibetsu
KushiroMuroranAyukawa

HONSHU

Whale Species:
Baird’s Beaked
Minke

Tokyo

348

Wada

Source: Government of Japan
Stephen R. Braund & Associates, 1989

Pilot
0

Source: Japan Small-type Whaling Association
Stephen R. Braund & Associates, 1989

119

km

200

TC/41/STW1

Figure 3:

STCW Capture Locations for One
Ayukawa-Based Whale Boat, 1985

Figure 4:1985 Season

STCW Capture Locations for One
Ayukawa-Based Whale Boat, 1986

1986 Season
Abashiri

Abashiri

HOKKAIDO Shibetsu

HOKKAIDO Shibetsu

KushiroKushiroMuroranMuroranAyukawa

Ayukawa

HONSHU

HONSHU

Whale Species:

Whale Species:

Baird’s Beaked

Baird’s Beaked

Minke

Tokyo
Wada

Minke

Tokyo

Pilot

Wada
0

km

200

Pilot
0

Source: Japan Small-type Whaling Association
Stephen R. Braund & Associates, 1989

Source: Japan Small-type Whaling Association
Stephen R. Braund & Associates, 1989

120

km

200

Contenporary Sociocultural Characteristics of Japanese Small-type Coastal Whaling
Figure 5:

STCW Capture Locations for One
Ayukawa-Based Whale Boat, 1987

Figure 6:1987 Season

STCW Capture Locations for One
Ayukawa-Based Whale Boat, 1988

1988 Season
Abashiri

Abashiri

HOKKAIDO Shibetsu

HOKKAIDO Shibetsu

KushiroKushiroMuroranMuroranAyukawa

Ayukawa

HONSHU

HONSHU

Whale Species:

Whale Species:Tokyo

Baird’s Beaked

Baird’s Beaked

Minke

Pilot

Tokyo

Wada

Wada
0

km

200

0

Source: Japan Small-type Whaling Association
Stephen R. Braund & Associates, 1989

Source: Japan Small-type Whaling Association
Stephen R. Braund & Associates, 1989

121

km

200

TC/41/STW1

Figure 7: Minke Whale Capture Locations for
One Abashiri-Based Whale Boat,
1984-85

Figure 8:

Minke Whale Capture Locations for
One Abashiri-Based Whale Boat,
1986-87

OkhotskSea

OkhotskSea

Abashiri

Abashiri

Shibetsu

Shibetsu

KushiroKushiroSeason:1984

Season:
1986

1985

1987

0

km

100

0

Source: Japan Small-type Whaling Association
Stephen R. Braund & Associates, 1989

km

Source: Japan Small-type Whaling Association
Stephen R. Braund & Associates, 1989

122

100

TC/41/STW2

JAPANESE WHALING CULTURE: CONTINUITIES AND DIVERSITIESThe attached report contains important information on various aspects of the smalltype whaling in Japan’s coastal sea. The Government of Japan, therefore, submits
this report as one of its documents to the IWC for reference to the Working Group to Consider
the Situation of Various Kinds of Small-type Whaling.

1989

JAPANESE WHALING CULTURE:
CONTINUITIES AND DIVERSITIES
Junichi Takashi
Arne Kalland
Brian Moeran
Theodore C. Bestor
April 1989

INTRODUCTION

and continuities among the various forms of whaling
mentioned above that enable us to speak of Japanesewhaling culture as a whole, important differences haveexisted among these forms. In this paper, we will examine
these differences — focusing particularly on small-type
coastal whaling — after examining the factors which
integrate the several forms of whaling into a single culturalcomplex.

In this paper we examine the practices involved inwhaling in Japan from pre-modern times to the 1980s. We
rely upon a concept of culture as an integrated and coherent
system of specific tools, techniques, skills and the attendantbodies of knowledge and forms of social organization thatare necessary to locate, identify, harvest, process, distributeand consume particular resources that are found in specificecological niches. As such, our definition of the culture ofwhaling, which centers on catching, processing, andconsuming whales, necessarily includes the social structureof communities that sustain and are sustained by whaling,
and the knowledge, beliefs and values that are present inthose communities.(1)We will demonstrate that, as an integrated culture,
Japanese whaling culture has an internal consistency thatenables one to define it as distinctive — in comparison
both with whaling in other nations, and with other Japanese
sub-cultures, such as those based on other modes ofmaritime exploitation (e.g. Kalland 1981), agriculture (e.g.
Shimpo 1976), or craft production (e.g. Moeran 1984).
That is, we believe Japanese whaling culture to be
distinctive along dimensions both of intercultural andintracultural variation.
Within the Japanese whaling culture, however, it isimportant to note that various forms of whaling have beenpracticed — net whaling in the pre-modern period and more
recently, pelagic whaling, large-type coastal whaling(LTCW), and small-type coastal whaling (STCW). We willargue that on the productive side of the whaling culture,
the fundamental cognitive, technological, andorganizational dissimilarities between catching whales andprocessing whale carcasses are sufficiently significant toenable us to distinguish hunting and processing as separable
sub-cultures. And although it is the overarching similarities

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Pre-modern Times
Whaling has been carried out in Japan for many hundredyears, during which time there have been many changes intechnology, in species caught, in hunting grounds, and in
the location of whaling communities. It is the purpose ofthis section to outline the historical processes leading up to
the days of modern whaling. In particular, we will describe
the social organization of pre-modern whaling in order toprovide background material for an understanding of thecontinuities which, we will argue, exist in the ways whaling
activities are still carried on.
Fukumoto (1960) has divided the development of whalingin Japan into five stages. In the first, lasting well into thesixteenth century, whaling was not yet established as abusiness. Whales occasionally were hunted with bows andordinary fishing nets, but most whales taken were either deador wounded whales that were caught as they drifted in theseas nearby. This kind of whaling has been labelled ‘passive
whaling.” in contrast to ‘active whaling” in which hunterspursued healthy animals (Hidemura and Fujimoto 1978).
Active whaling is thought to have started in the sixteenth
century, but it was only toward the end of that century thatwhaling developed into large-scale enterprises, thereby
marking Fukumoto’s second stage. Here whalers rode inseveral boats and made use of harpoons in the hunt, a123TC/41/STW2

technique that came to be known as the harpoon method(tsukitori-ho). Killed whales were brought back to speciallyestablished processing facilities on shore. This technique
was practiced in Wakayama, Shikoku, Northern Kyushu,
and on the coast of Yamaguchi facing the Sea of Japan.
Some communities such as Taiji (Wakayama
Prefecture) and Katsuyama (Chiba Prefecture) continued
until recent times to specialize in using harpoons to catchsmall cetaceans such as dolphins, pilot whales and Baird’s
beaked whales, a tradition which has had, as we will shortly
see, an important bearing on the development of modern
small-type coastal whaling. But toward the end of theseventeenth century, Japanese whaling entered its third stage
through the invention of the net method (amitori-ho) in 1675
by Wada Kakuemon in Taiji. In this method, large whaling
groups were organized to drive whales into large nets set
around processing facilities on shore. This method spread
rapidly throughout most of Southwestern Japan andcontinued to dominate Japanese whaling until the end of
the nineteenth century. Net whaling of this form involved
substantial capital (including investment by Osaka
merchants) and the proprietors themselves frequently
moved their operations from one whaling ground to another,bringing skilled workers with them. Rights to exploit
particular whaling grounds were granted by feudal fiefs(han) in exchange for fees to the authorities andcompensation to local communities for the inconveniences
whaling operations caused them.
Given that the organization of these net groups was inmany ways similar to the organization of modern whaling,
we will briefly outline here the main features of the net
method. The operations fell into three separate stages —preparations for a new season, hunting, and processing thewhale — with each of these stages requiring special skills
and modes of organization.
The preparations for a new season (maesaku) usually
started in September and included a range of activities
centered on the land station (nayaba). Large quantities ofhemp were brought in, often from a considerable distance,
as raw material for ropes made by women living in the hostand neighbouring villages. Male experts (ami-daiku) used
the ropes to make new nets since many of the old nets had
to be replaced every year. These experts were usually
recruited from villages that specialized in this trade, often
from distant provinces. Every year some of the oldest boats
had to be replaced by new ones built by specially employedboat builders (funa-daiku), while harpoons, knives,containers, and so on were made by smiths and coopers.
The working sheds had to be repaired or rebuilt, newfurnaces made and firewood collected.(2)Next, several activities were involved in the hunting ofwhales. First, once the weather was regarded as suitable
for the whaling season to begin, the search was initiated.
Lookout posts on hilltops, commonly manned by fivepersons, sent smoke or flag signals to convey information
to the land station about whales that they had spotted. In
areas where there were no suitable lookout points, searchboats were used to look for whales and the land station was
informed of sightings by means of flag signals.
Once a whale had been spotted and the land station was
informed, between ten and twenty swift hunting boats (sekobune or oi-bune), each carrying a crew of about twelve persons
under the command of an expert harpooner (hazashi), set out
in pursuit of the whale. The boats split into three groups eachled by a chief harpooner (oyaji). By surrounding the whaleon three sides and by beating the sides of the boats, they
managed to frighten the whale in the desired direction.
Meanwhile the net-boats (sokaisen) and their assistant boats(amitsuke-bune) had arrived at the scene and the nets werelowered under the direction of a commander-in-chief (mitooyaji) through signals to the net-boats, which worked in pairs— one pair for each of the nets.(3)As soon as the whale was entangled in the nets and its
speed had been slowed down, the hunting boats approached
the animal and the harpoonist threw harpoons secured withropes toward the whale. The first harpoonist who managed
to spear the whale was financially rewarded. The mostdaring task was accomplished by one harpoonist who had
to climb onto the whale’s back, cut a hole near the
mammal’s nose, and thread a rope through this hole tosecure the whale. Another daring operation was to diveunder the whale with ropes and tie the whale to two beams
laid between two boats that served as floats (mosso-bune).
Only after this had been done was the animal killed by asword and the whale towed to the land station by the mossobune, leaving the hunting boats to chase other whales thatmight have been spotted in the area.
Whale processing was carried out at land stations
containing a number of working sheds (known as naya)
living quarters, offices, and winches — all centered aroundthe beach up which the whale was dragged. The land stations
varied somewhat in their physical lay-outs, but the different
stages in the processing of the whales were mostly the same.
These involved, firstly, bringing the whale from the sea
onto shore by means of a hand-powered winch (rokuro)
which was then used to strip the blubber from the whale as
the main flensing (uo-kiri) began. This uo-kiri (lit., ‘fish
cutting’) consisted of rough hewing of the whale’s carcass
and simultaneous separation of the blubber from the meat.
This was followed by ‘middle cutting’ (naka-kiri), in which
the meat and blubber were cut into smaller pieces capableof being carried by two men with a pole. Both uo-kiri andnaka-kiri were carried out by highly skilled flensers.
All of these activities were conducted outdoors, before
the meat and blubber were carried indoors into separate
sheds. Although there were some variations in theorganization of these sheds between land stations, we findthat there was a frequent separation of sheds where meat,
blubber or entrails were further cut into smaller pieces andprocessed independently. The major part of the meat wasused fresh or salted as food. The blubber was mainly boiled
and used to extract oil which was in great demand as
insecticide. The entrails, for their part, were used both as
food and for oil production. The whale’s bones were taken
124

Japanese Whaling Culture: Continuities and Diversities
to a separate shed where they were crushed and processed
into oil or fertilizer. In many nayaba, sinews were also
processed in a separate shed, as were sperm whale teeth
and baleen. Processed sinew was used in a wide range of
products such as musical instruments and bow strings;
sperm whale teeth and baleen were also utilized in a varietyof crafts, including the making of bunraku puppets;
shamisen plecturns were produced from whale jawbones.
There was thus virtually total use of the whale.
The Transitional Years, 1860-1935
Early in the nineteenth century whaling boats from theUnited States and other western powers began to appear inJapanese waters to exploit the rich whaling grounds off hercoasts. Their activities coincided with — and are widelybelieved to have caused — a drastic reduction in the numberof whales caught by the Japanese in their nets, so whalers
found themselves having to cope with the situation in several
ways. Some tried to open up new catching grounds using
their established net methods, while others tried to introduce
the American-type whaling, using hand-held guns and bomb
lances. Neither had much success and Japan entered a new
age in whaling only with the introduction of the Norwegian
method, characterized by a bow-mounted harpoon gun ona steam-powered, ordinarily steel-hulled ship.
The Norwegian method was first used in Arikawa (GotoIslands) in 1897, but ended in failure. Two years later,
however, Oka Juro, who had been on a study trip to Norway,
established a company that was to become known as Toyo
Hogei K.K. Using catcher boats bought or chartered from
Norway and manned by Norwegian gunners, this company
managed to survive the troubled years as it learned the newtechnologies. By acquiring new Russian catcher boats
captured during the Russo-Japanese War, in 1906 thecompany was able to start catching whales in the waters
off Ayukawa in Miyagi Prefecture. This successful attempt
marked a turning point in Japanese whaling, and many new
whaling companies and land stations were established in
the following years along the Pacific Coast of Japan. This
ushered in the start of Japanese large-type coastal whaling,
discussed in more detail below.
Within five years, Japanese whalers were active
throughout Japan, the Kurile Islands, Korea, Taiwan, andOgasawara, catching large whales and bringing them toprocessing stations on land. In 1934, however, a mothership was bought from Norway and Norwegian supervisors
were employed, to allow the first Japanese fleet to be sent
to the Antarctic. Within a few years, fleets had also been
sent to the North Pacific and pelagic whaling had surpassed
large-type coastal whaling (LTCW) in economic importance(Tatou 1985).
During this same period other pre-modern forms ofwhaling also influenced the development of modern
whaling, particularly of small-type coastal whaling. In premodern times, the net whaling operators along the Kumano
coast (including Taiji) often allowed their whalers to catchsmall cetaceans such as pilot whales and dolphins outside
the net whaling season. This hunting of small cetaceans

was different from net whaling operations in that it
involved individuals, rather than organized groups, whoworked independently as and when they felt like it, andwho used hand harpoons from individually owned boats
crewed by small groups (generally no more than sevenmen, a considerably smaller crew than that of the net
whaling boats). After the collapse of net whaling in Taiji
following a disaster in 1878 when 111 whalers lost theirlives (cf. Taiji 1982), this traditional form of pilot whaling
became of greater importance in Taiji. Attempts weremade at driving pilot whales into nets, but without muchsuccess. After the introduction of the semi-diesel engine
and the invention of the Maeda five-barreled harpoon gun
in 1904 (probably stimulated by the development of
LTCW harpoon guns), traditional vessels (in Taiji called
tentosen) were outfitted with these innovations and pilot
whaling became a viable form of whaling which continued
into the 1970s.
In the early 1930s a seven-ton pilot whaling vessel was
brought to Ayukawa from Taiji, and by outfitting this boatwith a newly introduced 26 mm Norwegian harpoon gun it
became possible for the first time to hunt minke using a small
vessel. The Norwegian gun was mounted behind the Maeda
gun which was used to fire the first harpoon; the 26 mm gun
was used to fire the second, and fatal, shot. Experimentationin Ayukawa led to modifications of boat design, andeventually the Maeda and 26 mm guns were replaced with amore powerful 50 mm harpoon gun of Norwegian design.
The new designs thus developed proved their worth and led
to the general adoption of small-scale whaling boats (generally
15 to 20 tons) used for catching minke (Omori, ms.).
By about 1935, therefore, three distinct types of whaling
had emerged: large-type coastal whaling (LTCW), pelagic
whaling, and small-type coastal whaling (STCW). In thefollowing section we will be taking a closer look at each ofthese types of whaling in order to show that, in spite ofcertain differences between them, there are striking
similarities in the three types and that they complement
each other in such a way that we feel justified in talking
about the concept of an ‘integrated whaling culture.’

THE ORGANIZATION OF PRODUCTION
Any type of whaling can be broken down into a seriesof distinct components which represent stages of production.
In this section we will attempt to outline the main featuresof each of the three types of whaling defined above, in orderto bring out structural similarities and historical continuities
among differ forms of whaling that have existed in the pastand still exist today. In particular we will show that there isa sharp division between activities involved in hunting andprocessing in all types of whaling — a division whichtranscends differences among the three types of whaling
under discussion.
Large-Type Coastal Whaling (LTCW)
Large-type coastal whaling is characterized by the species
it pursues — sperm whales and the larger baleen whales(excluding minke) — by the scale of the boats (which were125

TC/41/STW2

often the same as those catcher boats used in pelagic
whaling), by its reliance on land-based processing, and by
the absence of mother ships.
In LTCW, each catcher boat (varying from 100 to justover 600 tons in size, with crews of roughly 20) was aseparate unit able and expected to make all decisions
connected with hunting whales, including decisions about
where and when to initiate a hunt.
Within seasonal and geographical limitations imposedby the authorities, the gunner on the catcher boat decided
the whaling grounds to be worked for each trip, basing his
decision on his extensive knowledge of seasonal migration
patterns, as well as on information obtained from suchnatural phenomena as tides, currents and wind. He would
also observe the activities of fishing boats.
Once the boat reached the hunting ground, the actual
search could begin. In general four men headed by the bosun(boatswain) gathered at the masthead to keep a look out forwhales. Constantly monitoring the water temperature, as
well as changes in water colour and wave patterns, the crew
searched for where different currents met, knowing that thiswas where whales satisfied their appetites on fish, krill,squid, and other creatures. Sighting of seabirds was of great
importance (as could be the presence of dolphins) sincethese signified the presence of whales in the area.
The next step was to look for the spout of a whale. An
experienced whaler could tell from the spouts what species
had been sighted, the direction in which the whales weremoving, and, in some cases, how many were present. If thewhale could be hunted, the catcher boat would then embark
upon the chase. Here traditionally there was very close
cooperation between the bosun at the masthead and thegunner who stationed himself initially on the bridge of thecatcher boat. The bosun sent instructions verbally (via thevoice pipe or by microphone) to the ship’s engineer relaying
orders about the speed and direction of the boat. However,
it is important to point out that it was in fact the gunner
who was in charge of the catcher boat throughout the hunt,even though he might delegate authority to the bosun in theearly phase of the chase. As the catcher boat closed in thegunner moved forward to the harpoon platform and took
over firm control of the final approach to the whale.
In the past, both the gunner and bosun needed to haveas near perfect as possible a knowledge of whale behaviour
for the pursuit to be successful. Their roles were, however,modified by the invention of an echo sounder known as thegeitanki (literally, ‘whale searching device’), introduced on
all types of catcher boats from about 1960. The geitanki isboth a sonar-like device that can be used to actively locate
whales through returned echoes and an apparatus that canalso simply passively receive the sounds of whales. The
device was of use only after a whale had already beenvisually spotted and the boat had approached to withincatching distance. If turned on too early, the signals emitted
by the geitanki would scare the whale away. Once the whale
was in range, catcher boats equipped with a geitanki could

pinpoint precisely the presence of a whale, together withits direction and distance from the vessel. It was particularly
useful when the whale dived and became invisible to thebosun, since — by tracing the path of the whale under water— it permitted the gunner to position his vessel perfectly
for the final approach to the whale. The innovation also
allowed catcher boats to follow whales throughout the nightand hence enable them to take up the final stages of thehunt the moment daylight returned.
More importantly, however, the invention of thegeitanki affected the role of the gunner aboard the catcher
boat during the chase, in that his detailed knowledge ofwhale behaviour and the likely movements of the type ofwhale being pursued were no longer as important as theyused to be. This made the difference between good and badgunners less obvious than it had previously been. Moreover,whereas in the old days it was the relationship between
gunner and bosun that was vital for to a successful pursuit,a new line of communication was now set up between thegunner, bosun and the sonar apparatus operator (geitanshi
or tsuigeishi), who was himself a new addition to thecomposition of the catcher boat’s crew.
Indeed, the decline of the authority of the gunner on
the catcher boats mentioned by informants appears to havecoincided with the introduction and adoption of the geitanki.
The fact that considerable care was taken to ensure that thesonar operator did not infringe upon the sphere of influencehitherto wielded by both gunner and bosun indicates that
this technological innovation brought about a potential
source of conflict in crew organization aboard the catcher
boats. For example, geitanshi were careful not to make any
statements that might suggest that they were issuing orders
about the vessel’s course, and instead restricted themselves
to reporting simply the location of the whale. Moreover,the fact that the operator now gave information about thewhale’s movements over the boat’s loudspeaker systemmeant that what was once secret knowledge and once ofthe main sources of power supporting the gunner’s authority
now became shared knowledge, allowing other crew
members to assess the performance of the gunner and of
the bosun.
In order to shoot a whale, the catcher boat had to pursue
it to within a range of 40 to 60 metres, after a chase of perhaps
several hours before this close an approach became possible.
In the final stages the gunner manoeuvred his vessel so that
it approached the whale at an idea angle of about thirty
degrees. Depending on the species, the gunner may have had
as little as two or three seconds in which to take aim and fire,
but he also had to take into account such factors as the distance
between the catcher boat and the whale, the absolute andrelative speeds of the two, wind and wave conditions(preferred timing being when the bow of the boat is rising),
and acquired knowledge of the behaviour of the whale itself(for a gunner’s account of shooting techniques, see Tanaka,1985). Before the invention of the exploding harpoon, thewhale was not killed instantly, and a second harpoon (niban

126

Japanese Whaling Culture: Continuities and Diversitiesmori) — sometimes aimed by the apprentice gunner — had
to be fired. The introduction of the explosive harpoon madea second harpoon unnecessary in most cases, and in thisrespect, modified the on-board training of new gunners tosome degree.
The next stage was marking and securing the deadwhale. Large baleen whales such as blue, fin and sei, werein general pumped full of air to keep them from sinking —something which was not necessary for whales rich in oil
content such as right and sperm whales. The carcass was
secured to a buoy and marked by a flag and, in later years,
a radio transmitter.
Finally, the whale was brought back to land. It was thegunner’s task to decide when to collect whales and bringthem back to the land station, marking the end of a huntthat may have lasted several days or may have beenconcluded in a single day if the hunting was successful.
Here again the species of whale had an important influenceon his decision. Baleen whales, for example, had to bebrought back to the land station promptly since they wereprimarily consumed as fresh meat, and prices fell sharply
with deteriorating quality; sperm whales, on the other hand,which were prized mainly for their oil, or used for preserved
meat — either salted or canned — did not need to be towed
to land so quickly. Moreover, in some places like the East
China Sea, where the water temperature is comparatively
high, baleen whales were first bled by an incision in theneck and then in addition had their entrails removed. In
deciding to convey whales back to land, other considerations
included sea conditions, speeds of currents, the distance of
the whales from the land, and of course the number ofwhales caught.
On being secured to the side of the catcher boat, whalesof all species had the corners of their flukes cut both to
make their handling easier and to ensure that the carcass
was not lost should wave action snap the tail of the carcass.
All species of whale were also bled at this stage, if this had
not already been done.
In LTCW the whale had to be processed on speciallydesignated land stations, and station operators had to pay
compensation to the local fishing associations for theinconvenience caused to fisheries by whaling operations.
Seven main processing activities were carried out at theseland stations, although some of the tasks were sometimes
subcontracted elsewhere: flensing, oil extraction, salting,icing of fresh meat, crushing of bones for fertilizer
production, drying of sinews, and boiling of entrails forfood. Subsidiary tasks occasionally undertaken by
employees at land stations included the cleaning of sperm
whale teeth and baleen, for use in craft production.
When the catch boat reached the harbour, it was met
by a small tow-boat that came out to take the whale in tow
as far as the slipway. There it was winched up on shore,
tail first, the winches being operated by experienced
workers who were not, however, exclusively specialists
in this task alone. Flensers (kaiboin) would often start theirwork while the whale was being dragged up by the winches
onto the slipway, since they could thereby exploit the
movement of the carcass in making the first cuts
lengthways in it. Otherwise, they would wait until the
carcass had been winched right up the slipway before
making long cuts along its sides and, as soon as the carcass
came to a rest, along the whole of the topside of the whale
before cutting its tail off. (The fluke was put aside to besliced up later, and then salted or transported to salting
facilities, if these were not available at the same station.)
The winches were also used to peel off the blubber while
the flensers carefully separated the blubber from the meat.
The blubber was put to one side, while the winch operators
proceeded to peel the meat from the carcass and the flensers
carefully trimmed the meat from the bone.(4) The meat
was then cut into blocks 30 centimetre across, before it
was further cut up into smaller chunks (sometimes by lessskilled workers locally hired on a daily basis during
especially busy periods) and placed in an ice tank forcooling. The same was done for meat scraps.
Next, the blubber was cut up in a similar manner into
30 centimetre wide strips. Since blubber had different uses,
depending on the species of whale from which it was taken,some was used for salting and some for oil extraction. In
the latter case, the large blocks were taken to the boiler
section of the land station, where they were further cut up
and placed in the boilers and prepared for oil.
Other portions, including the ventral grooves, dorsal
fin, flukes, flippers (in the case of the humpback whale),skin of the whale, and — in the days before refrigeration
enabled large quantities of red meat to be consumed as fresh
meat — red meat in general, were all sliced and salted.
The remaining skeleton was sawn into pieces, before
being taken from the land station to nearby fertilizer plants,
which were often operated by local people, where it was
crushed, dried and made into fertilizer. The sinews werealso removed by a subcontractor who washed, stretchedand dried them in preparation for musical instruments, tennis
rackets, etc.
Fresh intestines and other organs such as the heart, liver,esophagus, and kidney were boiled, either at the land station,or elsewhere by a subcontractor. If these entrails were not
fresh, or those employed at the land station had no time toprocess them, they were sent with the bones to be madeinto fertilizer.
Pelagic Whaling
In pelagic whaling, a procedure similar to that describedfor LTCW was followed, but there were certain importantdifferences in the search and carcass collecting phases, on
the one hand, and in processing, on the other. These
differences were reflected in the composition of the pelagic
whaling fleets, which varied somewhat from fleet to fleet,between catching grounds and over time. During the 195152 Antarctic season, for example the (Taiyo operated)
Nisshin-maru fleet consisted of a total of 23 vessels: themother ship (bosen), two salting/freezing ships, two freezing127TC/41/STW2

ships, four transport carriers, one tanker carrying diesel oil
for the fleet, ten catcher boats, two towing boats, and one
search vessel (Maeda and Teraoka, 1952). In 1976, on theother hand, the Nihon Kyodo Hogei fleet operating in the
North Pacific, consisted of a mother ship and 9 catchers
only. Both freezing and salting were done on the mothership, and no other support vessels were needed because thehunting grounds were relatively close to Japan.
A major difference between LTCW and pelagic
whaling, so far as hunting is concerned, was that the hunting
phase of whaling was closely coordinated and directed by
a commander-in-chief (sendancho) from the mother ship.
Basing his decisions on international whaling regulations
and information on whale behaviour and sea conditions
accumulated from previous years’ whaling trips, thecommander-in-chief first decided on the general area inwhich his fleet would pursue their whaling activities, andthen sent out his search vessel to move ahead of the mothership (bosen), reporting back by radio when sightings ofwhales were made. Another search strategy, especiallybefore the official hunting season for the economically more
important baleen whales opened, was to hunt for sperm
whales using the hunting as an opportunity to carry out
general reconnaissance. On the basis of these various kindsof information, the commander-in-chief deployed his
catcher boats, ordering them to maintain a certain distance
between themselves and to proceed towards the area inwhich whales were sighted. From this point, the catcher
boats took over the hunt and the search, pursuit and killingof the whales proceeded in exactly the same way as that
described above for LTCW.
The manner of securing and retrieving the carcass, oncea whale had been killed, was another major difference
between LTCW and pelagic whaling. This concerned thebringing of the carcass back to the processing facilities. As
in LTCW, the dead whale had to be secured with floats or
pumped with air in order to prevent it from sinking, while
the catcher boats proceeded with the hunting of other whalesin the area, leaving the carcass to be collected and takenback to the mother ship by special tow boats. Before acatcher boat left the whale, however, its gunner made sure
to attach a long bamboo pole to the carcass with a flag on
top to identify ownership and which catcher boat was
responsible for the successful killing. A radio transmitter
attached to the carcass enabled the collecting vessel toidentify the whereabouts of the whale and tow it back to
the mother ship for processing.(5)A pelagic fleet operated on the open ocean for months
at a time. This influenced the range of products into which
whales were processed, as well as the work organization of
the processing fleet, which included the mother ship forflensing and oil processing, and other ships where finecutting, salting, and freezing were carried out. And suchthings as bones, which on land would have been processed
into fertilizer or other products, were as much as possible,
on shipboard, processed into oil. And, of course, at sea sub-contracting and employment of extra workers during busy
seasons were impossible. The work on the fleet neverthelessresembled that of the LTCW land station.
The persons working on mother vessels were organized
into two main groups: the crew (ogata sen’in) of roughly
90 operating the ship, and an additional 250 managers andprocessing workers (jigyo-in), who were further subdivided
between the flensing section and the factory (mainly oil
extraction) section (Nihon Suisan, 1966). There were two
flensing decks on a mother ship, one at the stern whererough flensing was done and one in the center of the ship
where secondary cuts (saikatsu) were made.
As processing of a whale began, the carcass was
winched tail first up the slipway at the stern of the boat byworkers who were specially employed for this task. Thenthe flensers (kaibo-in) cut off the tail which was winched
to the second flensing deck where it was cut up later bybutchers (saikatsu-in) into smaller pieces for salting. The
flensers, at least one on top and one on each side of thewhale, cut the blubber along the length of the whale, before
it was stripped off the meat by the winch operators.
The blubber was hauled by the winch to the front of theflensing deck where butchers cut it up in blocks 30
centimetres wide with the help of kagihiki (‘pullers’) who
used hooks to spread the blubber as it was cut open by the
butchers. Sometimes, the latter then separated the skin fromthe blubber so that the skin could be further cut up into 3
by 30 centimetre pieces for salting by other specialists (enzokakari), either on the mother ship or on special salting ships.
Most of the blubber was sent down through the deck forprocessing in a Hartmann-type boiler by those employedin the boiling section (saiyu-bu).
The next step in processing involved the flensing ofwhale meat. Since the onomi is particularly important inJapanese dietary tastes, the flensers were particularly carefulwhen cutting this kind of meat, found near the whale’s tail.
They then separated the meat from the bones, an extremely
skilled operation, after which the butchers proceeded to cut
the meat up with the help of the pullers , who would ensurethat the membrane covering the meat was always turned
upside so that cutting was easier (again using hooks to help
with the cutting). Until the late 1940s, the meat was thenshipped by dories from the mother vessel to a separate boat
(fuzokusen) where it was further cut up into smaller pieces
before being salted by about 180 workers employed there.
From the late 1940s, efficient freezing ships were gradually
introduced, but freezing did not entirely replace salting. As
whaling operations contracted in the late 1970s and 80s,
mother ships were refitted so that, in addition to theirprevious functions, they were also able to freeze, salt andstore meat, blubber, ventral grooves and entrails until thesewere taken back to Japan by the transport ships that cameto meet the Antarctic fleets.
As a final stage in the flensing operation, the remaining
meat scraps were scraped off the skeleton by specialists,
before the bones themselves were handed over to another128

Japanese Whaling Culture: Continuities and Diversities
set of workers who cut them into small pieces with chain
saws. They were then crushed and, unlike at LTCW land
stations, put into a Kvaerner-type boiler operated by people
from the boiler section. The remaining entrails were also
processed into oil.
It should be emphasized that the relative importance ofthe various products prepared by a pelagic fleet changed
over the years as a consequence of changes in the market
for whale products. In the 1960s the demand for whale oil
decreased. At the same time the number of captured whales
also declined, which caused a higher price for whale
products processed for human consumption. This led to amarked shift in the use of blubber from oil extracting tofreezing and salting for food.
Small-Type Coastal Whaling (STCW)As we have seen above, hunting of small-type cetaceans
has been practised in Japan in some form or another for
many centuries, but the origins of what is now commonlyreferred to as small-type coastal whaling (STCW) can befound in the beginning of minke whaling off the Japan coastin the 1930s. This type of whaling is characterized, firstly,by the species of whale caught (minke, Baird’s beaked andpilot whales), and secondly, by the small size of the whaling
vessel (between 15 and 50 tons) (see Akimichi et al. 1988).
Although the hunting season is now fixed by Japanese
government regulations, STCW has in fact been carried out
when whales are close to the coast. This means that theadministratively regulated season also has been an
ecological season. At the same time, the fact that the boats
are small means that STCW has been essentially a single
day hunting operation, for the boat leaves its harbour in themorning on a clear day when the sea is calm and returns in
the evening after dark. Only very rarely, when the sea isvery calm, does it stay out overnight.
The crew of each whaling vessel is small comparedwith other types of whaling catcher boats, consisting of
between five and eight persons (compared to between 16
and 23 crew on a pelagic fleet catcher boat). Here the gunnerhas had greater influence than was the case in the LTCW
and pelagic operations, and may often be gunner, captainand owner of the boat all at once. Other crew members
consists of an engineer and deckhands only, there being no
specialized communications officer employed, even though
there is, of course, advanced radio communications
equipment on board the whaling vessel. It will beappreciated that this lack of specialization among othermembers of the crew contributes greatly to the overall
authority of the gunner who takes over complete control ofthe vessel once it leaves port.
As in LTCW, the gunner first decides the general area
in which he will conduct his daily search. This will bebased on past experience, seasonal variations of currents,
whale migrations and general availability of food for thewhale, together with information supplied daily by local
fishermen. As in LTCW and pelagic whaling, he pursues
his search carefully monitoring the temperature of thewater and the flow of the currents, while looking for otherclues such as the activities of birds, dolphins, and large
fish. At the same time, he has to have a more specialized
knowledge of the topography of the seabed than is thecase in LTCW or pelagic whaling, since the STCW boats
operate closer to shore and in shallower waters, the depthof which also affects the behaviour of the whales sought,
especially Baird’s beaked whales. A whale will either besighted directly or be tracked on the basis of information
received from fishing vessels at sea which will relay newsof sightings directly by radio to the whaling vessel withthe expectation of reward of whale meat should theinformation lead to a kill.
In STCW, both the structure of the whaling vessel andthe type of whales hunted affect the way in which the chaseis carried out. For example, a slow boat in search of minke
whales may launch a small power boat which it sends out
to slow down the whale and drive it eventually towards thewhaling vessel.(6) A fast boat, on the other hand, obliges
the whale to swim very fast and so prevents it from diving— in which case it is overtaken by the whaling vessel on
its own. Unlike minke whales, Baird’s beaked whales divevery deep for long periods (up to 45 minutes) at a time.
This means that the gunner has to try and work out where
the whale would resurface and position his vessel
accordingly. It is important to note that the echo sounderused in LTCW and pelagic whaling was not used in STCW
as a tracking device, in part because the beaked whale isextremely sensitive to its signals, and hence easily scaredby it.(7) Therefore, the gunner’s traditional — and secret— knowledge remained extremely important to success inthe pursuit of the whale. Moreover, his skills are tested much
more fully when it comes to sheeting the whale, since thetarget is smaller and the whaling vessel itself is much lessstable (because of its small size) than were LTCW andpelagic catcher boats.
Once a whale has been caught, and provided there areno other whales in the vicinity, the whaling vessel willusually secure the carcass by tying its tail to the side of theboat, bleed it, and then tow it back to the landing station.
There are two exceptions to this rule. Firstly, if there areother whales nearby which the whaling vessel wishes topursue, it will attach a radio buoy to the carcass, before
continuing its hunting activities. Secondly, in Hokkaido
waters, rough flensing of minke whales is permitted on
board the whaling vessel, in part because there has in recent
years been only one authorized land station in Hokkaido(at Abashiri). Since minke whale meat requires prompt
flensing to preserve its freshness, on board flensing isessential to meet demand, though whalers point out that
there is some trade-off in terms of the shrinkage of the meat
after on-board flensing occurs. The crew first winches thewhale up onto the flensing deck situated in the stern of thevessel, before the expert flenser (a land-based specialist
from Honshu, who is added to the normal crew when vessels
operate in Hokkaido waters) flenses the whale with the help

129

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of other members of the crew. The flensing operation
usually goes as far as the second stage only, in which the
30 centimetre chunks of meat and blubber are prepared prior
to finer cutting up into smaller blocks, which will be
undertaken on land.
With the exception of minke taken in Hokkaido waters,
however, all whales taken in STCW must — according tolaw — be taken back to designated land stations for flensing.
The STCW flensing stations are generally smaller andsimpler in layout than those used in LTCW. Since nowadays
whale blubber is used for food and not for extraction of oil,there are no boilers operating.(8) Though some whaling
operators, like those in Abashiri, may process some whale
meat and blubber themselves in small workshops, mostprocessing such as the salting and drying of meat, as wellas the preparation of fertilizers and so on mentioned for
LTCW, are carried out by other processors who specialize
in such activities and who purchase their necessary raw
materials either directly from whaling operators or throughmiddlemen. The methods of sale vary from port to port andamong different species.
The smallness of scale of the STCW land stations thus
gives rise to a structure of organization in which very few
full time specialists are employed. The only experts are thechief flensers who separate the meat from the blubber, andcut the meat from the skeleton of the carcass. Other tasks
may be carried out by women and old people, who form
the bulk of the work-force and are employed on a casualpart-time basis, coming from the locality in which the station
is found. Middlemen and distributors my lend a hand withflensing, and when necessary catcher boat crews may workon flensing as well. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the speedwith which the work is conducted is slower than in pelagic
waling mother ships or on LTCW land stations.

boats equipped with harpoon guns. (9)Secondly, there are disparities between the various typesof modern whaling methods. For example, in pelagic
whaling a special vessel searched the area for whales andrelayed information back to the mother ship, whereas incoastal whaling (both large and small) catcher boats worked
totally independently. Moreover, whereas, in STCW, theecho sounder is used as a device to bring the minke whaleto the surface, in LTCW and pelagic whaling it is used tohelp the catcher boat keep track of all types of whales(ASDIC). Finally, in pelagic whaling, specialized boats
were used to collect whales and take them to the processing
unit, whereas in coastal whaling, the catcher boat itself
performed this task. However, it should be noted that theuse of specialized craft to tow the dead whale to beprocessed was also found in net whaling in pre-modern
times.
This point brings us to a discussion of the similarities
to be found in the catching set of activities. Many of thesewill have been apparent from our description of the fourtypes of whaling outlined above, but it should be stressedthat in all types we can break down the set of catchingactivities into five distinct phases: deciding on hunting
grounds, search, chase, killing, and securement.
In deciding on hunting grounds, the gunner in the caseof LTCW and STCW, or the commander of the fleet inpelagic whaling, relies on his knowledge of whale behavior
accumulated through long experience, and on information
obtained from recent hunts or supplied by other vessels inthe same waters. Considerations of fuel consumption andtime factors enter into his decision.
Similarities in the search phase include the use of lookouts and signals (which may be secret, as in pelagic
whaling), the monitoring of natural environmental
phenomena, and the identification of the species of whalesighted. The same set of abilities, which includes goodvision, concentration, and keen senses, is considered to be
essential to being a good whaler in all types of whaling.
In the chase phase, we find close cooperation between
the harpoon/gunner and his crew, the supreme authority of
the harpooner/gunner on board his vessel and the prestige
accruing to his position. In addition, the harpooner/gunnernecessarily requires a good knowledge of the whale’s
behaviour in order to anticipate its movements and reactions.
We find that in the killing phase, the skill of the
harpooner/gunner in bringing his vessel to within range of
the whale, his accuracy in shooting it, and the timing of theshot itself are all essential. All types of whaling make useof harpoons equipped with ropes. The fact that one harpoon
was usually insufficient to kill a whale (before theintroduction of the exploding harpoon) has meant that new
harpoonists/gunners could be trained by allowing them tofire subsequent shots.
Finally, in the securement phase, the whale has to beprevented from sinking, either by being pumped with air,or by having floats attached to it, before it can be towed

SIMILARITIES, CONTRASTS, AND
LINKAGES
It can be seen from the above description of net, largetype coastal, pelagic, and small-type coastal whaling that
there are invariably two main sets of activities common to
all types of whaling. One set relates to catching the whale;
the other relates to processing it. Within each of these setsof activities there are certain similarities, as well as
dissimilarities, among the four types of whaling describedabove.
Let us start with the main dissimilarities in activities
connected with catching. First of all, there is an obvious
disparity between pre-modern net whaling and modern
methods of whaling in the selection of hunting area, which
was subject to local feudal government permission in thecase of net whaling, but not in that of coastal whaling today;in the generally static nature of the search phase in net
whaling, whereby whalers had to wait for the whales topass by rather than actively go out and look for them; andin the use of several boats to drive the whale towards thenet, as opposed to modern methods of using fast, powered

130

Japanese Whaling Culture: Continuities and Diversities
away to the processing unit. A great care was taken in orderto prevent the damage or loss in quality to the meat of thewhale caused by the waves and high water temperatures
while it was towed back to the port.
In the processing set of activities, there are moresimilarities than dissimilarities among types of whaling,
and the disparities are fairly minor. On a land station, forexample, bones tend to have been used for fertilizer andentrails for food, whereas on a mother ship they have bothbeen boiled to extract oil. Some land stations, too, may
subcontract part of the processing (bones, sinews, andintestines) rather than carry out all aspects as on the mothership.(10) In other technological respects, however, theprocessing that takes place aboard the mother ship and theother non-hunting ships of the pelagic fleet is for all practical
purposes identical to the land station, so that the processing
fleet can be conceptualized as a floating land station.
Unlike Norway, the Soviet Union and other whaling
nations, which used most of whale for oil extraction only,in Japan there were markets for other products that weremore valuable than oil, and which thus made it financiallyrewarding for whaling enterprises to diversify their output.
For this reason, the work organization of Japanese mothervessels is in some respects more similar to the organizationof pre-modern land stations than to, say, the present-day
work organization of Norwegian or Russian mother vessels.
The use of the whale as such has changed very little
over time. With very few exceptions, the Japanese — unlike
whalers in many other nations — have sought to make total
and variegated use of the whale. In addition to the full
utilization of red meat for food and blubber for oil and food,the fact that various usages were found for the skin andflukes (as salted food), the bones (fertilizer or oil), entrails(fertilizer, oil or food ) and for baleen, teeth and sinews(for craft production) has affected the processing of thewhale to such an extent that this st of activities is very
distinct from those found among other whaling countries.
This is true, moreover, for all the four types of whaling
described.(11).
The point to be made here is that, because each part of
the whale is put to different uses and because various typesof red meat are differently valued on the market, the various
flensing activities have to be done with great care. Thismeans that the early stages of flensing require great skill
and that only local casual day labour can be employed, if atall, for the later stages of processing.
Another remarkably persistent feature found inwhaling in Japan from pre-modern times to the present
day is the fact that those who man the whaling vessels
have been recruited from specific, occupationallyspecialised villages that have been widely dispersed
geographically. In pre-modern net whaling, for example,
it is known that the Misaki net group (in Hirado) employedcrews for 27 hunting boats (seko-bune) from 18 villages,
while the crews of the 38 hunting boats in the Katsumotogroup (Iki) were recruited from 17 villages, all in thenorthern Kyushu area. Characteristically, the harpoonist(hazashi) for each seko-bune recruited his own crew,
mostly from his own village (Hidemura and Fujimoto
1978: 167; Hidemura 1952: 88; Kalland 1986: 37-9). In
the two examples cited above, only one boat from the hostvillage for the whaling group participated in the formergroup, and none in the latter. Most of the net groups in
Kyushu employed net makers from several villages in the
Inland Sea area, and these workers also crewed on the net
boats. In more recent times, too, certain villages — like
Taiji in Wakayama Prefecture — specialized in crewing
on whaling vessels. Moreover, we find that those employedon fisher boats in pelagic whaling tended to come fromthe same area and were often recruited informallythrough the gunner and his wife. This latter trend is evenmore strongly observable in STCW, and it needs to be
stressed here that personal connections with the gunner
were a vital means of recruitment in all types of modern
whaling.
In processing as well, we find different types ofrecruitment patterns. In net whaling, for example,
specialists (particularly flensers) were often employedfrom a wide geographical area, whereas unskilled laborers
tended to be casually employed on a day to day basis fromlocal communities. With the opening up of land stations
for LTCW in the early part of this century, the story was
repeated as expert flensers were brought in from villages
in the south of Japan that had traditionally specialised inprocessing, while unskilled labour was locallyrecruited.(12) In the same fashion as was true for catchingactivities, particular villages tended to have specialised
knowledge of processing skills, but as was the case of
Arikawa and Ukushima in the Goto archipelago, somevillages specialized in catching techniques and others inprocessing activities.
What we find in both pre-modern and modern Japanesewhaling, then, are two sets of activities centering on
catching and processing, which are accompanied by two
sets of knowledge. Not surprisingly, the career patterns of
those employed in each set of activities are different. Thereis career mobility between LTCW, pelagic whaling, andSTCW, but not generally between activities relating tocatching and processing. This might seem to imply that
there are two isolated spheres of knowledge, but in fact
this is not the case because there are a number of important
linkages that serve to bridge the gap between them, andwhich thus justify the concept of an integrated whaling
culture.
One of the main links, especially in pelagic whaling
and LTCW, is that of the whaling company which acts tocreate barriers between itself and other companies, whileat the same time enclosing its own employees in an
identifiable group (cf. Clark 1979; Nakane 1970; Rohlen
1974, and others). Each company makes use of certain
strategies such as rituals, songs, company newspapers, andformer employees’ associations (OB kai) to create the kind131

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KNOWLEDGE AND IDENTITY IN STCW

of in-group feeling that so often is a feature of Japanesesociety.(13) In Arikawa, for example, whalers employedin the same company would go on a pilgrimage to one ormore shrines before leaving for, and after returning from, awhaling trip (Kalland 1989). While the whalers were away,
their wives would form informal groups based on company
affiliation and make a monthly pilgrimage to the sameshrines to pray for their husbands’ safety and good catches.
Another way in which the whaling companies acted
as a linking institution can be seen in the methods ofinformal recruitment practiced by whalers. As mentioned
above, there is clear evidence that personal connections
were vital in the recruitment of labour and that suchconnections allowed members of a whaler’s family to enter
into the same company, without necessarily being
employed in the same set of activities (of hunting orprocessing) as the relative already employed there. This
meant that there could be intergenerational differences in
specialized knowledge within the same family, so that,
whereas a father would be working on a catcher boat, a
son might become a flenser (or vice versa); where an uncle
worked as a boilerman, a nephew could be employed as amechanic on a catcher boat; or brothers my be employed
in a wide variety of occupations within the same company.
However, the normal case was that such personal formsof recruitment were within the same sphere rather thanbetween different spheres of activity. Thus, intersphererecruitment bridged activities without eroding their
distinctiveness.(14) The existence of different
specializations within a family group, however, enabled
the free communication of specialized knowledge adhering
to each of the two sets of activities emphasized above.
A persistent characteristic of Japanese whaling frompre-modern times has been the great mobility found among
most types of whalers. This mobility has involved not only
personnel, but skills and capital, as whaling groups moved
from one locality to another, giving rise to widespreadcommunication among whalers. Even as early as the 17th
century, whalers made trips to other regions specifically tolearn new technologies, and were invited by whaling andnon-whaling settlements to teach those techniques. Those
conscious efforts to diffuse technology throughout premodern times encouraged further mobility which in thiscentury contributed to the building of whaling stations invarious parts of Japan. Ayukawa is a prime example of thispattern. Thus, we find that there was, and still is, a sharedknowledge and common background to whaling,transcending the locality in which any particular operation
may be taking place, and based on the technology required
to catch and process whales. A recent example of such
mobility, entrepreneurship, and communication oftechnology is to be found in the way in which one whaling
company, based in northern Japan, has decided to establish
a land station in the south west part of the country, bringing
in skilled workers from various parts of Japan for both
catching and processing.

Although we have argued strongly for the unity of asingle whaling culture on the basis of the continuities andshared elements that may be found among the several formsof Japanese whaling discussed above, it is important to noteas well the special characteristics that set apart STCW as a
distinctive sub-culture within the larger Japanese whaling
culture. This is because small-type whaling has historically
been an integral part of the Japanese whaling complex
existing in complementarity with large-type whaling, andperforms today some of the traditional social and culturalfunctions which modernized and industrialized large-typewhaling failed to maintain.
STCW is more egalitarian and more flexible in its
organization and activities than LTCW, in part because it
originates historically from pilot whaling rather than net
whaling of large cetaceans, and in part as a result of its
small scale. Thus, the bridges both within and across thetwo sets of activities, catching and processing, mentioned
earlier are particularly apparent in STCW. In the first place,the crews on board vessels and processing teams are muchsmaller in STCW than in LTCW or pelagic whaling. Thismeans that they are not confined to carrying out single tasks
within each set of activities, but perform a number ofdifferent tasks therein. For example, the STCW gunner can
be both captain and owner of his vessel. Moreover, anyone
can go up to the masthead on an STCW vessel, whereas
this is forbidden in pelagic whaling. On the land station,
there is no specified winch operator, which means that thistask may be performed by a flenser or even a sales manager,
and the latter may act as unskilled labour in the final stagesof cutting up the whale meat and blubber. A particularly
good example of this kind of bridging across otherwise
distinct sets of activities can be seen in the way in whichcrew members of the minke STCW vessels will help in onboard flensing of whales taken in Hokkaido waters. Again,in pelagic fleets, we find that there were separate sleeping
and eating quarters for gunner and the catcher boat officers,
on the one hand and for crew members on the other. On
some STCW vessels, however, officers and crew share thesame quarters and on one boat they all sleep in the samecabin. Thus the rigid social hierarchy found in pelagic fleetsand LTCW catcher boats does not exit in STCW.
A second distinctive feature of STCW is the close ties
between those working aboard the whaling boats and thoseon the land stations. Since whaling vessels are continually
making day trips to and from a particular land station during
the whaling season, members of both processing teams andwhaling vessel crews are always in contact with one another.
When a whale is taken, of course, they find themselves
working in proximity. But when the weather is too bad forvessels to put to sea, crew and flensers may often socialize
together during the day, as they may commonly do in theevenings. The social distance between the two groups
brought about by their specializations — which is mostobvious in pelagic whaling where members of catcher boats

132

Japanese Whaling Culture: Continuities and Diversities
will not visit the mother ship for weeks on end — is lesspronounced in STCW.
Such close working and social relations are naturallytransformed into ties between whalers and the local
community in which the land station is situated. Informants
frequently spoke of the way in which local villagers,
including retired whalers and women, would gather downby the waterfront when whales were brought in to carry out
miscellaneous tasks in return for gifts of whale meat. Indeed,
the non-commercial distribution of whale meat among
relatives and neighbours of those involved in whaling isremarkable. Not only was meat distributed widely every
time a whale was taken, but on special occasions — suchas the launching of a new whaling vessel, or the completionof the first catch of the season, for example — there was anextensive chain of gift giving involving whale meat andsake. Indeed, throughout the year, gift giving was a major
activity in whaling communities like Ayukawa, andfrequently involved exchanges between local residents andshrines and temples (cf. Akimichi et al. 1988: 41-51).
The commercial distribution of whale meat from STCW
has, until recently, been very different from that practisedin LTCW and pelagic whaling. In pelagic whaling, frozen
whale meat used to arrive at various major ports before
being nationally distributed via the central wholesalemarkets. In LTCW, too, although whale meat was processedin various local land stations, it was then generally shippedto the national central wholesale markets as and whenthought fit by corporate managers in major cities. The
distribution of products from STCW, on the other hand,
has generally passed through local market institutions andthence into the hands of local brokers and middlemen who
distribute the products locally and regionally. In this way,
not only has the STCW distribution system satisfied local
demand reflecting local tastes; it has also provided, as in
Ayukawa, significant financial support for local market
institutions, thereby benefitting the maritime community
as a whole (Bestor 1989b).(15)
Another important aspect of community identity is tobe found in the use of whale meat in local cuisine — a
subject about which all informants talked endlessly
throughout Japan. Food preferences are closely connectedwith the history of whaling in particular communities. In
Taiji, for example, people prefer pilot whale; in Wada-ura,
they have a particular liking for Baird’s beaked whale; in
Ayukawa and Abashiri, minke is the favourite type; in the
Tohoku region, sperm whale was preferred and in thenorthern part of Kyushu, fin whale is widely eaten.(16)These general food preferences are accompanied by
preferences in preparation of the food (cf. Akimichi et al.,
1988: 67-70, and 92-5). Whalemeat is always served incommunity gatherings, and residents of places like
Ayukawa and Arikawa regard this form of food — either
cooked or raw — as an essential element that reinforces
their identity as whaling communities, and is particularly
important in celebrations. This community identity is further

strengthened in ritual events, where people offer whalemeat
to the deities.
The role of ritual in Japanese communities in generalis, of course, important since the local shrine in many
respects defines both geographical and social perimetersof the local community (Yamamoto 1978; Bestor 1989a).
In whaling communities, there are many rituals involving
shrines. Before the season starts each year, for example,
whaling crews in Ayukawa visit Kinkazan to pray for agood catch and safety at sea, and during the whaling season
itself there may well be daily visits to the local shrine byfemale members of the whalers’ families.(17) Other
festivals involve thanksgiving ceremonies and thedramatization of whaling techniques (cf. Akimichi et al.,
1988: 63).
Apart from these Shinto ceremonies, there are also
Buddhist rites in local whaling communities. There are twomain rites. The first involves a ‘memorial service’ (kuyo)
designed to appease the soul of the dead whales and topermit them to rest in peace and not torment whalers infuture as ‘hungry ghosts’ (gaki). The second is for the soulof the whalers, to forgive them and compensate them fortheir kharmic demerit acquired by taking life. This kuyo isparticularly important for gunners, of course, but the wholecommunity (particularly in Taiji) is involved in thememorial rites.
It can be seen, therefore, that not only is there a merging
of specializations in STCW, but that all those involved inseparate sets of activities — owners, whalers, anddistributors — come together in ritual activities. This serves
to strengthen the sense of community that is fostered byon-shore socialization among whalers, by shared foodpreferences and ceremonies in which food is eaten together,and by the sharing of meat among relatives and neighbours
in the various whaling communities. In these respects
STCW is very different from LTCW and pelagic whaling.

CONCLUSION
In this paper, we have outlined the historical backgroundof pre-modern and modern whaling in Japan, before
describing the three main types of whaling practised in Japanin recent decades — large-type coastal, pelagic and smalltype coastal whaling. By comparing these types, we wereable to show that there are two distinct sets of activities
concerned with production which show remarkable
continuity within the catching and processing spheres,
respectively. At the same time, the differences between
these spheres are also bridged by a number of social andcultural institutions (which are particularly apparent in
STCW where whaling is closely integrated with local
community life). These continuities and similarities, andthe several bridging mechanisms, have enabled us to argue
for the existence of an integrated whaling culture in Japan.
In conclusion, we may ask what are the main
characteristics of this whaling culture. In the first place,there is a consistent and diversified usage of whale133

TC/41/STW2

products which has changed little over the centuries.
Different parts of the whale have been used for food, oil,
fertilizer, and handicrafts both in pre-modern and modern
times, and meat in particular is classified into a wide
variety of products.(18) Such fine categorization isaccompanied by a diversified knowledge of cooking,which means that the whale itself has to be processed very
carefully and in particular ways. Consequently, Japanesewhalers are confronted with a number of technical andorganizational problems, common to all three types ofwhaling, but not found in other whaling cultures. As aconsequence of this persistent tradition in the use of thewhale as food, we find that there is a strong sense ofcontinuity in the organization of activities relating to thecatching and processing of whales.
The organizational continuity found in whaling is notconfined, of course, to whaling alone, but is a pervasive
feature in other spheres of Japanese culture as well. For

example, there is the concept of sea rights and tenuresystems, which have over the centuries regulated relations
between producers and host villages. The former havealways made payments to the latter as a form ofcompensation for causing local people inconvenience, andwe find that whaling operators make similar payments andmay (in the case of SCTW) distribute their products throughthe local fish market, thereby serving the important functionof subsidizing other activities in the host communities.
This notion of give and take, and the general sense ofreciprocity found in Japanese society, can be seen in theway in which whale meat is freely distributed as gifts among
the friends and neighbours of whalers. In this respect, meatis used as a force to stabililze relations between producers
and host communities, as well as to give each community adistinct identity vis-a-vis other communities in the area.
Reciprocity is also apparent in the relations between
man and the deities, and the rituals that he conducts to

Okhotsk Sea

Map of Japan with localities mentioned in the text

Abashiri

HOKKAIDO

TôhokuSea of Japan
Ayukawa

HONSHU

Ukushima

Arikawa

WadauraGOTO
ISLANDSSHIKOKU

Taiji

Pacific Ocean

KYUSHU

134

Japanese Whaling Culture: Continuities and Diversities
of Japan groups of small fishing boats are occasionally used to herd dolphinsand pilot whales into bays, where they are trapped by nets placed at theentrance of the bay.
10. It should be noted that over time the new processing technique of freezing(introduced in the late 1940s) allowed a shift in preparation of whale meatfrom salting to freezing. Moreover, changes in market demand have brought
about a shift in the use of blubber which is now mainly eaten rather thanmade into oil. These changes apply, however, to all three types of modern
whaling.
11. That the Japanese are very conscious of this difference can be seen in
the way in which Oka Juro, the founder of one of the whaling companies,
Toyo Hogei K.K., as far back as the beginning of the century stressed that,when it came to Norwegian technology, Japan should adopt new technologies
in the catching not the processing, of the whale (Toyo Hogei K.K., 1910).
12. It is know that, throughout the history of whaling, this casual employment
was welcomed by local farmers during the slack winter season, and even inpelagic whaling most of those working on mother ships were recruited fromfarming households.
13. These employees’ associations both separate people at the lower level,
while uniting them at a higher one. In most large whaling companies, theOld Boys Associations are organized according to whether former employees
worked on catcher boats, as crew on mother ships and other support vessels,
or as processing workers (Taiyo Gyogyo, 1984). Each regional branch of
the association is organized hierarchically on a national grid, however, andthis allows members from different specializations — both at the national
and local levels — to gather together on certain occasions. In Taiji, however,a universal OB kai was formed in 1982 as a reaction to the IWC’s moratorium
decision which was seen as an attack on the whaler’s culture and identity.
This OB kai includes the membership from all companies of all types ofwhaling.
14. The way in which connections of this sort are used in recruitment tocompanies in general in Japan has been discussed by Vogel (1967) andWhite (1982), among others.
15. In recent years, the reduced quota on the number whales to be taken
together with restrictions on international trading in whale products, hascreated a scarcity of supply which has itself brought on a sharp increase in
prices. This has led to products from STCW being distributed throughout
regional wholesale markets, and thence possibly to the national central
wholesale market, thereby bringing the system as a whole more in line with
the LTCW distribution system. However, in STCW, the commercial
distribution flow is still initiated locally.
16. Present supplies of fin whale meat are imported from Iceland inaccordance with international regulations.
17. In Ayukawa, the female relatives are accompanied to the shrine by thewife, or daughter-in-law, of the company owner, thereby revealing one more
way in which the patterns of hierarchy are broken down in STCW. Anotherevent — of which the ritual eating of whale meat is the essential part —involves a visit to the important local shrine of Kinkazan. This is organizedby the main local distributor and attended by the community at large.
18. According to Kumano Taiji-Ura Hogeishi Hensan I’inkai (1969:465472), there were in 1,832 seventy named edible parts of the whale, including
meat, blubber, organs and bones.

appease them. Such ritual activity is frequently a result of
people’s attitudes toward nature and life, and the festivals
that result help integrate the whaling community as a whole.
By combining its indebtedness to the village with such ritual
activities, the whaling operators themselves become
integrated more totally into community affairs. Although
this tendency is strongest in STCW, it was also found inother types of whaling in the past.
These continuities in whaling, on the one hand, andJapanese culture, on the other, have blended into a uniqueform of adaptation which, owing to the activities of certain
groups, is now in danger of extinction. Mankind would be
the poorer for such a loss.

NOTES
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support
for field work and writing up of this article provided by the
Zaidan Hojin Nihon Geirui Kenkyujo [the Institute of
Cetacean Research]. In the course of research for this paper,
the authors have (singly or together) interviewed informants
and collected archival materials, statistics, and other datain the following places: Abashiri, Monbetsu, Kushiro andSapporo (Hokkaido); Ayukawa, Ajishima, Onagawa,
Ishinomaki and Sendai (Miyagi Prefecture); Tokyo; Wada,
Chikura and Kyonan (Chiba Prefecture); Taiji and NachiKatsu-ura (Wakayama Prefecture); Shimonoseki(Yamaguchi Prefecture); Arikawa (including Enohama) andUkushima (Nagasaki Prefecture).
End notes
1. The partial definition of culture presented here owes much to the work
done by anthropologists interested in the relation between society, culture
and environment (e.g. Barth [1956] on the concept of ‘ecological niche’),and variously referred to as ‘cultural ecology’ (Steward 1968),‘ethnoecology’ (Frake 1962), ‘cultural materialism’ (Harris 1968) (or ‘vulgar
materialism’ (Friedman 1974)), ‘anthropological ecology’ (Anderson 1973),‘ecological anthropology’ (Rappaport 1971, Orlove 1980), and so on. We
have based our approach, however, on the intrarelationship between
production and variables affecting consumption — such as the market
demand for whale products, on the one hand, and government andinternational regulations, on the other.
2. 8,165 working days were spent during this stage by one net groupconsisting of 61 identified artisans plus an unspecified number of firewood
cutters and female rope makers at Tsushima in 1802 (see Takeno [1979]) or
Kalland [1986: 34] for details).
3. Usually there were three nets set outside each other, but some smallergroups had only two nets.
4. In the case of baleen whales, the onomi tail meat was removed firstsince it is considered a great delicacy in Japan (see below for further
discussion of flensing techniques for different types of whale).
5. When the scale of pelagic whaling contracted, the number of catcher
boats was reduced and both search and collecting vessels were eliminated.
This meant that the hunting operations in pelagic whaling became very similar
to that of LTCW.
6. This innovation in fact resembles in some important respects the way inwhich whales were driven towards nets in pre-modern whaling by special
fast boats (seko-bune).
7. STCW vessels do make use of a transmitting device which frightens
minke whale, making them surface and swim fast. This device does not,however, have a receiver of the kind employed in LTCW and pelagic whaling
catcher boats.
8. The blubber of Baird’s beaked whale used to be used for oil extraction
in STCW, but this was stopped in the early 1980s for market andenvironmental reasons.
9. The technique of chasing whales in this manner is not unknown today.
In STCW, for example, fast powered boats are used to bring the whaletowards the whaling vessel, while in certain communities in the south west

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Nihon Suisan K.K. 1966. Dai nijuji nangei (The 20th
Antarctic Whaling Operation). Tokyo: Nihon Suisan
Omori, Ichinosuke. ms. Ayukawa-ko no hogeishi(History of whaling in Ayukawa Harbour). To be
published in Volume 2 of Oshikacho-shi. (Historyof Oshika Town). Oshikacho Yakuba

Orlove, B. 1980. Ecological anthropology. Annual
Review of Anthropology 9. pp. 235-73
Rappaport, R. 1971. Nature, culture and ecologicalanthropology. In Man, Culture and Society, ed. H.L.
Schapiro. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Rohlen, T. 1974. For Harmony and Strength. Berkeley
and Los Angeles: University of California Press
Shimpo, M. 1976. Three Decades in Shiwa: economic
development and social change in a Japanesefarming community. Vancouver: University of
British Columbia Press
Steward, J. 1968. The concept and method cultural
ecology. In International Encyclopedia of the Social
Sciences, ed. D. Sills, Volume 4. New York:
Macmillan. pp.337-44
Taiji, Gorosaku. 1982. Kumano Taiji-ura hogei nohanashi (Tales about Whaling in Taiji, Kumano).
Wakayama: Miyai Heiando
Taiyo Gyogyo K.K. 1984. Maru-ha OB kai kai’in meibo(Directory of Members of the Taiyo Old Boys’
Association). Tokyo: Taiyo Gyogyo
Tanaka, Shogo. 1987. Kujira monogatari: nanpyo-yo
o kaketa hoshu (Whale Story: a gunner who went
to the Antarctic). Tokyo: Shibata Shoten
Tatou, Seitoku. 1985. Hogei no rekishi to shiryo(History and Statistics of Whaling). Tokyo:
Suisansha
Toyo Hogei K.K. (ed.), 1910. Honpo no Noruue-shiki
hogeishi (The history of whaling with theNorwegian method in Japan). Tokyo
Vogel, E. 1967. Kinship structure, migration to the city,and modernization. In Aspects of Social Change, ed.
R. Dore. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
pp.91-111
White, James W. 1982. Migration in Metropolitan
Japan. Japan Research Monograph Number 2.
University of California, Berkeley: Center forJapanese Studies

136

TC/41/STW3

THE SPREAD OF WHALING CULTURE IN JAPANThe attached report contains important information on various aspects of small-typewhaling in Japan’s coastal sea. The Government of Japan, therefore, submits this report
as one of its documents to the IWC for reference to the Working Group to Consider the
Situation of Various Kinds of Small-Type Whaling.

1989

THE SPREAD OF WHALING CULTURE IN JAPAN
Arne Kalland
Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Copenhagen
May 1989
This report is for the use of the Institute of Cetacean Research in preparation of materials
for submission to the International Whaling Commission. It may not be circulated, cited, orquoted for any other purpose without the written permission of the author.

CONTENTSINTRODUCTION

Introduction ................................................................ 137
The Mobility of Whaling Operations ......................... 138
Seasonal Migration ..................................................... 138
Permanent Resettlement ............................................. 141
A Case Study: A Kinship Group from Arikawa ......... 143
Conclusion .................................................................. 144
Notes ........................................................................... 147
Bibliography ............................................................... 147

During the twentieth century there has been a marked
shift in the areas in which most of the coastal whaling inJapan has been conducted. Until 1906 most of the whales
were caught outside southwestern Japan, but beginning inthat year the center for the whaling operations moved
northwards (Map 1). In 1935 38.6 percent of the large-typewhales were landed in Hokkaido or the Kuril Islands andanother 39.3 percent were landed in Tohoku (Ayukawa andKamaishi), whereas only 1.4 percent (24 whales) werelanded in Kyushu, which was the center of whaling untillate nineteenth century (Terry 1950: 46-47). Many whaling
stations are thus of relative recent date.
Amongst the four small-type coastal whaling (STCW)
communities in Japan, whaling in Taiji and Wadaura has
undoubtedly ancient roots. Taiji claims an 800 years historyof whaling, and the method of catching large whales withnets originated there in 1675 (Kumano Taiji-ura Hogei-shi
Hensan I’inkai 1965, 1969). At the same time small-type
coastal whaling (STCW) primarily catching pilot whales
and dolphins with spears and harpoons continued from smallboats. There are clear continuities between this old form of
STCW in Taiji and the development of modern STCW
(Akimichi et al. 1988, Takahashi et al. 1989). The catchingof Baird’s beaked whale in Wadaura is a heritage from theTokugawa period (1600-1868) when this species was caught
by harpoons from Katsuyama in Tokyo Bay (Akimichi etal. 1988, Takenaka 1976, Kaneshiro 1983).
At first sight it might appear, however, that whaling in
Ayukawa and Abashiri are of more recent development.
Attempts at organizing large net groups were made near

Appendix 1: The Organization of OB-kai for Taiyo
Gyogyo ................................................................. 149
Appendix 2: Research Methods ................................. 150
Table 1: The Homes of Whalers employed by Nissui for
the Antarctic Expedition of Tonan-maru
in 1965/66 ............................................................. 139
Table 2: The Early Whaling Companies with Stations in
Ayukawa .............................................................. 139
Table 3: Place of Residence of the Nihon Hogei
employees when they were laid off in 1987 ......... 140
Table 4: The Number of Surname Groups Found in
Ayukawa in 1869, 1911, 1960, and in 1985 ........ 142
Table 5: The Geographical Background of 1,340
Household Heads in Ayukawa ............................. 142
Map 1: Location of Whaling Stations 1900-45 .......... 145
Map 2: Main Places Mentioned in the Text ............... 146
Figure 1: Genealogical Charts of a Kinship Group from
Arikawa ................................................................ 147

137

TC/41/STW3

Ayukawa toward the end of the Tokugawa period, without
much success. It was only with the establishment of amodern whaling station by Toyo Gyogyo in 1906 thatwhaling become firmly established in Ayukawa (Omorin.d.). In Hokkaido there has been ancient whaling conductedby the Okhotsk and Ainu people, but there is no culturalcontinuity between this early whaling and the present one(Iwasaki 1987).
Despite the relative short history of whaling in
Ayukawa and Abashiri, there are strong continuities
between whaling conducted from these two communities
and whaling done in other parts of Japan in the past. Oneof the characteristics of Japanese whaling has always been
the great geographical mobility in terms of its operations.
This has facilitated strong cultural continuities both
spatially and historically.
This report will analyse the ways by which whaling
culture was transmitted from one area of Japan to another,culture in this context being defined as “an integrated andcoherent system of specific tools, techniques, skills, andthe attendant bodies of knowledge and forms of socialorganization that are necessary to locate, identify, harvest,
process, distribute, and consume particular resources thatare found in specific ecological niches.” (Takahashi et al.
1989) More specifically, diffusion of whaling culture will
be seen as an incidental consequence of the great mobilityof the whaling operations and the extensive migration —both seasonal and permanent — this mobility caused, as
well as deliberate training of local people whenever new
whaling stations were opened. But this diffusion has at
the same time been restricted by cultural factors suchas attempts at secrecy over individual skills, thetendency of Japanese groups (households, villages,
companies, etc.) to retain some privacy related to the‘way of the house,’ and the importance of connections in
the recruitment process, which all worked to slow down
the speed of diffusion which the mobility of whaling intheory made possible.

recruited from 21 villages. Both groups crewed some of
their net boats with people from the Inland Sea area
(Hidemura 1952: 76). This brought whalers from a large
area together and there was a fertile ground for cultural
exchange.
The huge capital investments required in order toorganize the net groups destabilized the operations to someextent. Several net groups went bankrupt and the others
were heavily indebted both to the feudal authorities and tolarge merchants in Osaka and elsewhere. Occasionally the
feudal authorities had to intervene and take over theoperations themselves, as happened several times in
Arikawa (Kalland 1989). Experts on whaling thus emerged
both within the bureaucracy and among the financiers, andthis also facilitated diffusion of knowledge.
With modern technologies using steam ships andharpoon guns the range of operations enlarged considerably
and the whole of Japan, Korea and Taiwan were brought
within the reach of the whaling companies. Most coastal
areas of Japan became exposed to whaling and many
persons were attracted by the blooming land stations. With
the development of pelagic whaling a new step was madeto bring whalers from all parts of Japan together (Table 1),
uniting villagers throughout the nation in a way neverachieved before (3). After retirement the whalers continue
to be in contact with each other through the Old Boys’
Associations (OB-kai), which are organized in a national
hierarchy (see Appendix 1 for the case of Taiyo’s OB-kai),and through the company newspapers.
Also the STCW boats today have a wide field ofoperation. Although each of the nine boats have their home
ports in Taiji, Wadaura, Ayukawa and Abashiri,
respectively, they are free to hunt the whales where theywant to, within the limitations imposed on them regarding
seasons and quotas. Hence, all the boats operated outside
Hokkaido during the summer 1987, and all but the Abashiri
boats hunted outside Ayukawa during the spring (Akimichi
et al. 1988: 21-23). The crews are thus able to observe eachother’s behaviour and exchange information. At the levelof management, the owners meet regularly at the SmallType Whaling Association, further facilitating exchangeof experience and knowledge. Similarly, the leaders of thelarge whaling companies met at the Japan Whaling
Association.
There were thus many opportunities for whalers on alllevels and widely dispersed in space to meet, exchange
knowledge, and take part in an evolving integrated national
whaling culture (4). We shall in the following sections takea closer look at the channels through which a whaling
culture was transmitted from the southern parts of thecountry to the new whaling communities in the north.

THE MOBILITY OF WHALINGOPERATIONS
The great mobility of whaling operations has been
fundamental in preparing the ground for a national whaling
culture in Japan. Already during the Tokugawa period thewhaling groups moved their operations from one area toanother (1). The catching rights rested with the local feudal
authorities (han), and licences to catch whales were usually
given only for a few years at the time. The authorities inFukuoka, for example, gave licences for only three or five
years at the time, and licences were seldom renewed (2).
This fluid situation brought the villagers into contact witha number of whaling groups and each group was composedof whalers from a great number of villages. It is known
that the Misaki net group (in Hirado) employed crews for
its 33 boats from 22 villages, while the crews of the 44
whaling boats in the Katsumoto group (Iki Island) were

SEASONAL MIGRATION
As has been discussed elsewhere (Takahashi et al. 1989)
whaling operations can be divided into two sets of activities,
the catching of the whale and the processing of the carcass.

138

The Spread of Whaling Culture in Japan
Table 1:The Homes of Whalers Employed by Nissui for the Antarctic Expedition of Tonan-maru in 1965/66

Place ofresidence/
Prefecture
Kagoshima
Miyazaki
Kumamoto
Oita
NagasakiSaga
Fukuoka
Ehime
Tokushima
Kagawa
Kochi
Yamaguchi
Hiroshima
Okayama
ShimaneTottori
Hyogo
Osaka
Kyoto
Nara
Wakayama
Mie
Fukui
Ishikawa
ToyamaNiigata
Shizuoka
Kanagawa
Yamanashi
Saitama
Gumma
Tokyo
Chiba
Ibaragi
Tochigi
Fukushima
Yamagata
Miyagi
Iwate
Aomori
Akita
Hokkaido
No of pers

Factory ship "Tonan-maru"
Crew
Workers1

No. of persons working on:
Refrigerator ships (2)Catcher boats
Crew
Workers
2
3
3

New Georgia

3
5
1
5
5
2
2
2
4
15
3
3
1
6
9
1
2
1
8
24
1

52
3

6
17
10

2
6
1

7
2
1

13

2
24
2
9
5
1
1
3
11
13
1
6

4
2
2
2
5
2
4
2
14
2
5

25
6
2

5
5
2

3
1

1
3
22
1
1
1
12

9
1
8
4
6
1

1
9
3

5
1
1
1
137

50

22

2
1

1

14
1
13
14
1
1

9

3
1

1
23
3

10
4

1
1

2
1

1

3

4

8
3
28
11
5
167

1
4
9
7
1
2
1
32
5
2

6
4

1
8
1

2
215

5
128

4

6
13
50
61
47
309

7
4
19
10
1
93

Total
6
3
3
6
155
5
22
16
5
32
10
57
70
7
15
1
41
28
7
2
4
2
12
87
9
10
5
32
1
4
1
19
24
7
1
2
2
66
27
100
82
61
1049

Source: Nihon Suisan K.K., 1966
Table 2: The Early Whaling Companies with Stations in Ayukawa
Year
Company
Headquarter
1906
Toyo Gyogyo
Shimonoseki
1907
Tosa Hogei
Kochi Pref.
1908
Kii Suisan
Wakayama Pref.
1911
Nagato Hogei
Senzaki

139

Many whalers from:
North-Kyushu, Yamaguchi Pref.
Tosa Prov. (now Kochi Pref.)Kumano (incl. Taiji)
Yamaguchi Pref.

TC/41/STW3

Both sets of activities require great skills which are not learnt
easily. It takes many years to be a good gunner or a skillfulmaster flenser. Naturally then, there were few local people
who possessed the skills needed to crew the catcher boats
or to man the flensing stations when whaling first started
outside northern Japan on a regular basis in 1906. The
whaling companies therefore brought in skilled whalers
from other parts of Japan. Most of these early companies
were established by entrepreneurs with background in oldwhaling communities in the southwest. Given theimportance of personal connections when applying for jobs
in Japan — a theme stressed by many of the informants —these companies recruited whalers from a limited area,
which gave most of these companies a strong regional base.
All the companies that established stations in Ayukawa
during the first decade of this century had such strong
regional orientations, as also can bee seen from the namesof these companies (Table 2).
In Kyushu there was a series of small locally based
whaling companies, such as Goto Hogei, Enyo Hogei, andTable 3:

Arikawa Hogei. Most of these were short-lived, but
Nagasaki Hogei which was established in 1901 when its
founders chartered the whaling boat originally operated
by Arikawa Hogei, managed to stay in business for several
years. One of the leaders of this company was Hara
Shinichi from Arikawa in Nagasaki Prefecture, and hebrought many whalers from that old whaling center into
the new company. When Nagasaki Hogei in 1908 wasmerged with Toyo Gyogyo and two other companies toform Toyo Hogei K.K., Hara became one of the directorsof the new company, and his co-villagers followed into
Toyo Hogei. Arikawa men came to play an important rolein Toyo Hogei and from 1934 in Nihon Suisan (Nissui, cf.
Table 1).
Whalers from whaling centers in Southwestern Japan— particularly from the prefectures of Wakayama (i.e.
Taiji), Yamaguchi (the Nagato Coast), Nagasaki(particularly the Goto Archipelago, including Arikawa) andKochi (Map 2) — were sent by their companies to the newly
opened stations in the north, as well as to the stations inPlace of Residence of the Nihon Hogei Employees When They Were Laid Off in 1987
Province

Town/City
Oshika Town
Ayukawa
Kugunari
TomariIshinomaki City
Onagawa Town
OgachiYamotoKogotaNaruseShiogama City
Sendai City
Hachinohe City
Oma
Yokosuka City
Fukui City
Taiji Town
KatsuraShimonoseki City
Ube City
Fukuoka City
Arikawa Town
Sasebo City

Miyagi

Aomori
Kanagawa
Fukui
Wakayama
Yamaguchi
Fukuoka
NagasakiWorked on catcher boats
5aWorked on flensing station
1e
13
3

1
7
1b

4

1
6
1

2e
1e
1e

1c
1
2
1
1
13
1e
1d
1
1
1
1
44

TOTAL

Notes:
a: one born in Nagasaki Prefecture, Hirado
b: born in Niiyama, Oshika Town
c: born in Taiji
d: born in Kugunari, Oshika Town
e: born in Ayukawa, Oshika Town

140

28

The Spread of Whaling Culture in Japan
Korea, Taiwan, Kuril Islands and Ogasawara. Before WorldWar II most of the whalers spent the summer months in thenorth; in Tohoku, Hokkaido, Etorofu or the Kuril Islands.
The winters were spent whaling off Korea, Taiwan andOgasawara or farming at home. When Antarctic whaling
started in 1934 this became the most important activity
during the winter.
With the establishment of new land stations the local
villagers were exposed to a new way of life, but despite
great demands for workers they were only slowly recruited
into the whaling activities. To the companies local workers
were cheaper than outside whalers who had to be brought
in and often supported in dormitories at extra costs. But
this was in many cases more than offset by the higher
productivity of the trained whalers from the well-establishedwhaling communities.
This was in particular the case in the hunting operations
where a well-trained and coordinated crew was a great asset.
In the old days when nets were used, it was commonly the
responsibility of the harpooner (hazashi) to recruit the crewon the boat, and frequently the crew came from one village.
The harpooners were the ultimate source of authority on
the whaling boats and the success or failure of the whaling
operations rested very much on them. The same is true forthe gunners today, and until recently it was also common
that the gunner recruited many of the crew members on thecatcher boats. This is particularly the case with the STCW
boats. When the father of one of the owners in Abashiribought his first STCW boat in 1953, most of the crew camefrom Kagoshima Prefecture from where the gunner alsocame (5). On the other Abashiri boat several of the crew
members were recruited through the late gunner and hiswife. The gunners tend still to have more influence over
the recruitment procedures that the owners, which also tends
to narrow the recruitment base considerably.
Even today, there is a clear difference between those
employed on the catcher boats and those employed on theflensing stations as to their place of residence. Of 44 men
who worked on Nihon Hogei’s two catcher boats in
Ayukawa until they were laid off in 1987, only six persons
lived in Oshika Town, of which Ayukawa is a part. One ofthese was born in Kyushu. Thirteen of the crew members
lived in Taiji (Table 3). Almost half the crews lived outside
the prefecture. The situation among those who worked on
the flensing station was the opposite as more than half lived
in Oshika Town and only three persons (10.7 percent) lived
outside the prefecture (6). The situation on LTCW thus
paralleled that for pelagic whaling (Table 1 above).
On the land stations, the initial flensing was an operation
which required high skills and exact timing, factors thatwere less crucial in the later stages of processing. Local
people were therefore first employed at the land stations
where they did the less demanding tasks, leaving the tasks
that required great skills — such as the initial flensing —to a group of skilled migrant whalers. This is a strategy
also the STCW companies employ. Gaibo Hogei brings intheir master flensers from Ayukawa to Wadaura during theseason there, and when one of the Abashiri boats operated
outside Nemuro, the master flenser went from Abashiri to
Nemuro in order to do the main flensing.
Another factor that slowed down the learning process
was the fact that some whalers were reluctant to teachnewcomers their skills. As one informant said: “To teachyour skills to others is to invite unemployment!” Many of
the whalers therefore guarded their skills carefully. One of
the informants deplored this situation as much of the training
was done through minarai, to ‘learn by observation,’ amethod much used in Japan. The seniors only seldom
answered direct questions.
Although some individual whalers were reluctant toteach their skills to others in fear of being unemployed —and probably more in order to monopolize knowledge andthus gain influence — most companies made arrangements
for training local people in order to reduce labour costs.
Nihon Suisan, for example, ran a training program forflensers in Onagawa.
Another factor which inhibited the rapid spread of thewhaling culture was the importance of connections when
applying for a job in Japan. It is often necessary to havesomebody to guarantee for your good behaviour, and without
such connections it is very difficult to get into an organization.
We have seen that such connections were particularly valued
on the catcher boats. “You need relatives among the whalers
in order to get in,” was a frequent respons among informants.
When whalers from the south started to marry local girls and settled
down in the new centers in he north, the original villagers got theconnections they so badly needed.

PERMANENT RESETTLEMENTS
Through seasonal migration whalers from Southwest
Japan became acquainted with the whaling communities in
the north and several found wives there. Some whalers
brought their wives back to their natal homes but many
settled permanently in the north. For this and for otherreasons whalers from Southern Japan — first of all fromthe prefectures of Nagasaki, Saga, Kochi, Yamaguchi, andWakayama — settled throughout Northern Honshu andHokkaido. People in Arikawa in Nagasaki Prefecture, forexample, could name a number of whalers from Arikawa
who settled in the Tohoku region (i. e. Onagawa, Ayukawa,
Kamaishi) and in Hokkaido (i.e. Kushiro, Kiritappu,
Abashiri). It is very difficult to quantify this migration to
the north, however. The limited time available for researchand the restrictive Japanese laws regarding access to the
koseki (household registers) prevented us from making
statistics on the subject of migration from Arikawa to otherwhaling communities (7).
It is thus very difficult to get a good picture of the
migration out of the old whaling communities in the south.
It is not much easier to get the full picture of the migration
into whaling communities in the north. But a few figures
will nevertheless provide some insight into this matter.

141

TC/41/STW3

Table 4:

Ayukawa was a small fishing community before Toyo
Gyogyo established he first whaling station there in 1906.
In 1887 the village had only 332 inhabitants. This had
increased to 3,660 in 1952. During the same period thenumber of surname groups found in Ayukawa increased
from 12 in 1879 to 67 in 1911 and finally to 261 in 1985
(Table 4). Although we cannot rule out that old Ayukawa
residents adopted new surnames for reasons ofconvenience (such as to avoid military service), theexplosion in the number of surname groups clearly testifies
to a considerable immigration. In 1985 only 22.4 percentof the households in Ayukawa used one of the original
surnames represented in the village during the latenineteenth century, and this is considerably less than thepercentages for the other hamlets of Oshika Town (8).
But were did the people come from? Information exists
as to the geographical background of the household heads
in Ayukawa thanks to a dedicated local researcher who a
few years ago interviewed most of the households in
Ayukawa and cross-checked with other sources. Althoughthese figures cannot be as accurate as if they have been
based on the koseki, they do give a clear picture of the patternof migration into Ayukawa. Only 28 percent of theTable 5:The Number of Surname Groups Foundin Ayukawa in 1879, 1911, 1960 and in
1985
1879

1911

No of original surname
1212groupsNo of households with52
82
old surnames
in percentage
100.0% 55.0%
No of new surname
055groupsNo of households with
067
new surnames
in percentage
0.0% 45.0%
Total no of households

52

149

1960

1985

12

12

186

181

23.2%

22.4%

259

249

616

627

76.8%

77.6%

802

808

Source: From Oshika choshi, pp.131-135
household heads came originally from Ayukawa. The otherhouseholds had been established in Ayukawa either as aresult of whole households moving in, or more frequently
by men marrying local girls and settling. These immigrants
came from most parts of Japan (Table 5). Whereas people
from Nagasaki, Kochi, Wakayama and Yamaguchi

The Geographical Background of 1,340 Household Heads in Ayukawa

Prefecture

CountyTownship

SectionNumberOshikaOshikaAyukawa378

28.2

OshikaOshikaothers

153

11.4 a181

13.5 b

Oshikaothers, incl. Ishinomaki

99

7.4

99

7.4

Shida

25

1.9

others120

9.0

Hokkaido

11

0.8

Aomori8

0.6
0.7

MiyagiSenenmiyagi incl. Sendai, Shiogama

Percent

Monoo

Akita

10

Iwate

41

3.1

Niigata9

0.7

Yamagata

23

1.7

Fukushima

21

1.6

Tokyo

25

1.9

Ishikawa

8

0.6

WAKAYAMA

8

0.6

KOCHI

10

0.7

NAGASAKI

18

1.3

YAMAGUCHI

16

1.2

Others

77

5.7

TOTAL

1,340

100.0

Notes:
a: These household heads came from Kugunari 33, Niiyama 22, Ohara 20, Kobuchi 17, Kyubun 12, Tomari 12,
Ajishima 10
b: Among these 76 came from Ishinomaki and 25 from Watanoha, now a part of Ishinomaki City
Source: Oshika choshi, pp.129-130

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The Spread of Whaling Culture in Japan
three board members of the Old Boy’s Association (OBkai) of Nissui are all from the south (11). One of them isalso the present chairman of the Fishing Cooperative
Association in Ayukawa (12). Of the three STCW boats
registered in Ayukawa, one is owned by a person from
Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu (13), and has a captainfrom Yamaguchi. The manager of Nihon Kinkai is from
Yamaguchi. Only the owner of the third boat is fromTohoku as he was born in Iwate Prefecture to the north of
Ayukawa. He has also married an Ayukawa lady.
There are three craftsmen producing artifacts from
sperm whale teeth in Ayukawa, and all three are descendents
of settlers from Kyushu. The father of one of them camefrom Arikawa and worked for Toyo Hogei and Nissui as aflenser. The son followed in his father’s footsteps but soon
found it more interesting to sit on the deck carving whale
teeth. The other craftsmen are brothers born in Karatsu, an
old whaling center in Saga Prefecture. Their father’s
brother-in-law made picks for the shamisen instrument fromthe whale’s jaw, but as his supplies of raw-materials wererunning short their father was sent to Hokkaido. He nevergot further than Ayukawa, however, as he found rich
supplies there. He sent whale bones back to Karatsu but
finally got his own family moved to Ayukawa where hemade various artifacts of jaw bones and teeth. His two sonscarry on this work today.
Abashiri is a city of about 43,000 inhabitants andwhaling plays a minor role there. Two STCW boats areregistered in the city and both have important crew members
who have their family background in the south. On one of
the boats the captain hails from Kagawa Prefecture on
Shikoku whereas on the other two brothers (one of thembosun) are sons of a gunner from Arikawa (see case study
below). The present gunners on the two boats are fromTohoku (Aomori and Miyagi Prefectures). Moreover, boththe two STCW companies were established by men from
Honshu, from Fukui and Miyagi Prefectures respectively.
Both the seasonal migrants from the south and those
who settled permanently have contributed much to thedevelopment of a whaling culture in the north. They haveplayed, and still play, leading roles as agents of culturalchange. In the following section we shall, through a casestudy, see how one kinship group has contributed
importantly to a whaling culture both in the south and in
the north.

prefectures mostly came to Ayukawa in order to crew
catcher boats and to man the land stations, people from
Tokyo and other places not formerly related to whaling
activities, established various forms of businesses
supporting the whaling industry.
These figures do not support claims made by
informants in Ayukawa that a third of the population aredescendents of settlers from Nagasaki, Kochi, Wakayama,
and Yamaguchi. Although settlers from the southwest may
not be so prominent in Ayukawa quantitatively, they
nevertheless play important local roles. A marriage did
not only establish social relations between two individuals,
but marrying into Ayukawa meant to acquire a set of
relatives. Moreover, certain institutions particularly strong
in the Tohoku area enmeshed the newcomer into a largesocial network.
One such institution was the lineage group, dozoku (inAyukawa called make), consisting of a main household
honke), branch households (bunke), branches of branches
and so on, all “bound by mutually recognized links ofgenealogy.” (Fukutake 1982: 31) In Ayukawa there seems
to have been five strong kinship groups in the past, eachcentered on an affluent honke that built its wealth on landholdings and as owner of large nets (amimoto). It was thesehonke who together established the whaling company
Ayukawa Hogei K.K. in 1925 (9).
The other institution was the relationship between ebisuoya (the ‘ebisu parent,’ Ebisu being a deity particularly
important to fishermen and merchants) and ebisu-ko (the‘ebisu child’). In the old days it was common to change
one’s name in connection with important rite de passage,
such as marriages. The new name ebisu-na, (‘ebisu name’)
was given to the ebisu-ko by the ebisu-oya, and therelationship between the two should ideally be very close,“almost like that of a child toward his father.” The head of
the honke often served as the ebisu-oya for members of the
branch households (although the reverse also occured), andnet owners served as ebisu-oya for those working on the
nets. More important, heads of old Ayukawa households
often served as ebisu-oya for the immigrant whalers whomarried local girls.
A marriage between a whaler from the south and an
Ayukawa girl thus meant that the whaler became firmly
integrated into the community, by linking him to one of
the existing kinship groups, and through his ebisu-oya
linking him to an even wider social network. This network
was, and still is — kept ‘warm’ by an extensive exchangeof gifts — in which whale meat until 1988 played a crucialrole (Akimichi et al. 1988: 41-51) (10), and by mutual
obligations to assist each other. One such obligation was
to introduce the other to a third party, i.e. to the whaling
company where one is employed. One marriage therefore
provided a number of young men with connection into
the whaling companies.
The whalers from the south play important roles in
the whaling communities in North Japan even today. The

A CASE STUDY: A KINSHIP GROUP FROM
ARIKAWAIn this section we shall look at one kinship group basedon the patrilinear principle, i.e. all the household heads inthe group are related to each other through the male line(with one exception involving an adopted heir). The
kinship group was originally based in Arikawa, but have
today affiliated households in Hokkaido. Through this casestudy several features will become apparent: theimportance of connections, the great geographical mobility143

TC/41/STW3of the members within one kinship group, the flow of
personnel between the various forms of whaling (i.e.
STCW, LTCW, and Pelagic), that members of one kinshipgroup could work in various whale related jobs, and theoften close teacher-pupil relations that existed in training
for new skills (14).
In Figure 1 the household heads in the group are named
from A to K, important brothers-in-law are numbered, andtheir linking wives are marked by ‘0’ (15).
A was not a whaler but a fisherman, although this does
not necessarily rule out that he occasionally worked on the
Arikawa flensing station. A’s younger sister’s husband was,on the other hand, employed by Toyo Gyogyo and worked
on a catcher boat. Three brothers — B, C, and D — all got
jobs through this uncle (person 1). The eldest of the brothers,
B, who remained living in Arikawa in order to take over
his parents’ house, became a flenser on a factory ship,
whereas his younger brother C became a flenser on land
stations. He was sent to various places in Japan, and got
married to a Hokkaido woman and settled in Kiritappu. Oneof his sons lives in Abashiri and two in Nemuro and all
three have worked with their uncle, D, on STCW (16).
The youngest of the three brothers, D, was employedby Nissui and started as a cook under his uncle and went
three times to the Antarctic before World War II. He wasalso sent to various stations in Japan and to Korea and the
Kuril Islands. He met his wife in Hokkaido and brought
her to Arikawa just before the outbreak of the Pacific War.
During the war Nissui bought five STCW boats and D
took employment on one of these boats which was operated
from Abashiri by Hoyo Hogei, a subsidiary of Nissui. Afterthe war he preferred to continue working with STCW, andhe brought his family to Abashiri. He worked as gunneron several boats, also operating from Ayukawa and Fukui,
before he took employment on one of the present boats in
Abashiri. Two of his sons took employment on the sameboat, and the youngest was the bosun until he was laid off
in 1988, and he has strong wishes to become a gunner likehis father.
The brothers E, F, and G are sons of a flenser, but it
seems that it was their mother’s brother (person 2) who
was most influential in getting them into whaling. This uncle
worked on a catcher boat and he made a lasting impression
on his nephews. The youngest brother (G) became a flenser
for Taiyo whereas the two eldest became gunners for thesame company.
F started his career in Nissui as a ‘boy,’ but quickly
displayed his talent in spotting whales. After six years with
Nissui his uncle D invited him to Abashiri in order to train
him as a gunner. After training for about two years hebecame the gunner on a STCW boat in Ayukawa where heworked when he was offered a job with Taiyo (17). Before
he left the Ayukawa company, however, he trained a newgunner, originally from Arikawa but later killed in an
accident when he was loading the harpoon (18). After
altogether eight years in STCW, F became a gunner with

Taiyo, a position he held until his retirement fifteen years
later. He invested his saving money in a fish shop and hisretirement money in a souvenir shop, both in Arikawa.
His elder brother, E, had a similar career. He also startedin Nissui before being trained as a gunner in STCW. He
was recruited by Taiyo three years before F, and he likewise
trained his successor as gunner on the STCW boat, a person
who was born in Arikawa but who has now settled in
Shiogama City in Miyagi Prefecture. E met, however, a
tragic death in the Antarctic when a wave threw him on the
deck. He left a 39 years old widow and one daughter. People
from the company helped the widow to set up a whale
wholesale business. Today this is the only wholesaler
engaged in the distribution of whale meat to any significant
degree in Arikawa, and it is operated by the husband of E’s
daughter, (K). In his small workshop he processes the whale
meat (including blubber) into a range of products speciallycherished by the people of Arikawa.
The members of this kinship group have contributed
to the development of whaling culture in important ways.
D’s widow remembers how her husband taught her
Arikawa rituals related to whaling, and he took great carein religious matters and always offered some of the whale’s
tail at the boat altar (kamidana), which is an old traditionin the south. Several of the members have trained newwhalers both in Abashiri and in Ayukawa, and byswitching between STCW, LTCW and pelagic whaling
they contributed to the formation of an integrated whaling
culture encompassing all types of whaling. Back in
Arikawa the main house (honya) has moved into wholesale
business and processing of whale meat thereby developing
new knowledge locally and his brother-in-law (F) runs
the largest retail shop for whale meat in the township. Bothprepare dishes for hotels and inns and both are thus
caretakers of a rich culinary tradition.

CONCLUSION
The Japanese enthusiasm for learning is not of new
date. One can only be impressed by the scope oftechnological diffusion during the Tokugawa period(1600-1868), a period which is known for its rigid social
control and severe restrictions on movement. Feudallords in Kyushu invited early in the seventeenth century(if not earlier) entrepreneurs from Kumano (now
Wakayama Prefecture) in order to teach the local people
whaling. In the 1670s Fukazawa Gidayu, who was oneof the main operators of whaling groups in Kyushu, went
both to Kayoi (Yamaguchi Prefecture) and to Taiji(Wakayama Prefecture) in order to study the net method(Kalland 1986). In the nineteenth century the Sendai
domain tried to develop whaling outside Ayukawa by
inviting whalers from Taiji and Yamaguchi and thecentral feudal authorities tried to establish whaling in
Hokkaido by employing people from Katsuyama at Boso
Peninsula in present Chiba Prefecture (Iwasaki 1987: 1417). People from Fukui were also brought to Hokkaido

144

The Spread of Whaling Culture in Japan
120°

125°

130°

135°

140°

145°

150°

155°

1
50°

Coastal and Colonial
Whaling Stations
1900-45

2
KARAFUTO

RI
L

IS
L

AN

DS

Map 1:

KU

3

5

4
45°

7
9

10
11

12
16

HOKKAIDO

14

8

45°

6

13

15

18 17
20

19

67

40°
40°

21

JAPAN SEA

68

69

N

22
24 23
25 26
27 29
28

77

A

76
66
82

71
72

63

30
HONSHU
31

65

73

64
62
59
58
61
57
34
SHIKOKU
54 56
38
35
55
41 39 37 36
40
51 52
50
43 42
48 49
44
47 KYUSHU
45
46

32
33

53

CHINA

O

60

74

35°

E

KOREA
75

35°

70

C

78

C

I

30°

F
30°

I

EAST CHINA SEA

C

A
P

81

BONIN ISLANDS

79

1 KAKUMABETSU
2 OTOMAE(KITACHISHIMA)
3 UMEURA
4 SATTO
5 SHIBETORU
6 ARIMOE
7 SHANA
8 HITOKAPPU
9 NAIHO
10 SOYA
11 MOMBETSU
12 ABASHIRI
13 SHAKOTAN
14 NEMURO
15 HANASAKI
16 KIRITAPPU
17 AKKESHI
18 KUSHIRO
19 BIRO
20 MURORAN

25°

FORMOSA

80

20°

125°

130°

21 SAME
22 KUWAGAHAMA
23 RYOISHI
24 KAMAISHI
25 MAKIHAMA
26 ONAGAWA
27 OGINOHAMA
28 OHARA
29 AYUKAWA
30 ONAHAMA
31 CHOSHI
32 TATEYAMA
33 SHIMODA
34 NIGISHIMA
35 TAIJI
36 KUSHIMOTO(KASAJIMA)
37 OSHIMA
38 SHISHIKUI39 KANNOURA
40 MUROTO

135°

145

41 UKITSU
42 SHIMIZU
43 SAGANOSEKI
44 HOSOJIMA
45 TONOURA
46 TEUCHI
47 KOSHIKIJIMA
48 OHAMA
49 OJIMA
50 KABASHIMA
51 ARIKAWA
52 UKUJIMA
53 SAISHUTO
54 YOBUKO
55 KATASHIMA
56 IKI
57 HIDAKATSU
58 NISHIDOMARI
59 IZUMI
60 OKOCHI
61 SENZAKI

140°

62 MIHOGASEKI
63 SAKAI
64 MAIZURU
65 TSURUGA
66 USHITSU
67 YUSHIN
68 SHIMPO
69 CHANZEN
70 CHUZAMPO
71 KYURYUHO
72 URUSAN
73 KYOSAITO
74 DAIKOKUSANTO
75 OSEITO
76 DAISEITO
77 KAIYOTO(KANTOSHU)
78 TSINGTAO
79 KUNETSU
80 DAIBANRATSU
81 OGASAWARA
82 OKI
145°

25°

20°

TC/41/STW3

Map 2:

Main Places Mentioned in the Text

ABASHIRI

HOKKAIDÔ
KUSHIROKIRITAPPU

AOMORI PREF.

IWATE PREF.

AKITA PREF.

TÔHOKUAYUKAWAISHIKAWA PREF.

YAMAGUCHI PREF.
Tokyo

NAGASAKI
PREF.

WADAURAKANAGAWA PREF.

SHIKOKU
ARIKAWANAGASAKI

TAIJI

KYUSHU

WAKAYAMA PREF.
KÔCHI PREF.

in order to develop the whaling industry, without muchsuccess. In more modern times the founder of Toyo
Gyogyo, Oka Juro, travelled to Norway to study modern
whaling and for more than 30 years Japanese whaling
companies used Norwegian gunners, partly for the
purpose of training Japanese. And in the early 1930s a
STCW boat with crew was brought from Taiji to
Ayukawa in a successful attempt to modify it for minke
whaling.
Today this readiness to learn manifests itself inseveral ways. The owner of one of the Abashiri boatsplans to travel to Wadaura in 1989 in order to learn how
to process Baird’s beaked whale properly, and anothercompany plans to hire flensers from Arikawa in order totrain local villagers if its attempt to open a new flensing
station for pilot whales in southwestern Japan issuccessful.

But as we have seen, there were also constraints working
against a rapid diffusion of knowledge. Some whalers werereluctant to teach newcomers their skills, and few novices
were given detailed instructions, although the companies tried
to run some training programs. The most severe obstacle was,however, the importance of good connections in order to get
employment in a whaling company.
These constraints were only overcome by the great
mobility of the whaling fleets, and most importantly, by
whalers from the southern parts of Japan marrying andsettling in the emerging whaling towns in the north. Throughthese processes — learning by observing the migrant
whalers from the south and establishing real and fictive
kinship (i.e. ebisu relations) ties with settlers — villagers
in northern Japan managed to partake in a national whaling
culture. There are certainly strong cultural continuities
between whaling in northern Japan and in the south.

146

The Spread of Whaling Culture in Japan
longer enter this distributional network, which has adverse consequences
Figure 1: Genealogical Chart of a Kinship Groupfor the social organization in Ayukawa as well as in the other whalingfrom Arikawa
communities (Government of Japan 1989: 21-23).
11. The father of the chairman came from an old whaling community in
Yamaguchi and was employed by Toyo Gyogyo. He was sent to Ayukawa
in 1907 where he met his wife. The wife accompanied her husband to various
land stations until the first child was born, whereupon they set up residence
in Ayukawa where the chairman was born. The two vice-chairmen were
(1) =
(A)
born in Arikawa and Ukushima in Nagasaki. Both are married to Ayukawa
women. The secretary was born in Niigata.
12. He was introduced to Nissui by his uncle (mother’s brother) who worked
2s
3s
1s
as a gunner for that company. The uncle had a wife from Ayukawa and hemarried the niece of his uncle’s wife. His wife’s mother worked for the
(2)
(C)
(D)
(B) =
same whaling company in which he himself is employed at present.
13. He was first employed in Taiyo Gyogyo when 18 years old through theintroduction of his brother-in-law. He has worked both on refrigerator and
1s
2s
3s
2s
3s factory ships and spent a couple of seasons at Ayukawa, partly to supervise
Seiyo Hogei, a Taiyo subsidiary engaged in STCW. He resigned from Taiyo
(E)
(F)
(G)
(I)
(J)
5 sonsin 1985 when he bought Seiyo Hogei. He moved his family to Yokosuka in
1961, and in 1988 he brought his wife to Ayukawa.
14. This example involves the training of gunners, but such relations are by
AdSo =
no means confined to this work. A master flenser from Arikawa expressed(K)
how he found the person in Ayukawa who could teach him how to flense
sperm whale properly. “He was like a god (kamisama) for me,” he admitted,
a sentiment commonly found in Japan particularly in the field of arts andhandicrafts.
Notes
15. I interviewed the following persons in this kinship group: D’s widow,
1. This was particularly the case in Northern Kyushu. In Taiji, however,F, J, J’s elder brother, and K.
the same operator, the Wadas, were in charge throughout the Tokugawa
16. Two other sons work for the Fishing Cooperative Association inperiod.
Kiritappu and as a driving school teacher in Kushiro, respectively.
2. Between 1766 and 1799 at least six operators (probably more since we
17. When pelagic whaling expanded during the 1950s there was wide-spread
have no information for the periods 1770-83 and 1794-98) worked inhead-hunting of gunners in particular. Large whaling companies like Nissui,
succession the whaling grounds off Fukuoka’s Oshima. None of them
Taiyo, and Kyokuyo could offer much higher salaries than the STCW
renewed their licences. All the operators came from outside the Fukuoka
companies, and there was also more prestige to be employed by these
Domain, i.e. from Karatsu, Yobuko, and Omura (Kalland 1986: 50).
companies. STCW served as a training ground for gunners and the efficiency
3. Table 1 is not meant to give a correct picture of the spatial distributionof these boats declined. Lately the process has been reversed. With theof the whalers in Japan as the table is based on one of the Nissui expeditions
contraction of pelagic whaling and LTCW, some laid-off whalers have foundto the Antarctic only. Most conspiciously, whalers from Taiji were not
employment in STCW.
employed by this company and relatively few were employed also from
18. His wife, who also was from Arikawa, returned to her natal home with
Ayukawa. However, the table indicates that the residences of the crew
the children after the accident.
members on the factory and refrigerator ships were more widely distributed
than those of the “workers,” i.e. those handling the whales. The crew
BIBLIOGRAPHY
members were sailors, and typically many of them lived in cities whereas
Akimichi Tomoya et al.
the ‘workers’ lived in the countryside. The crews on the catcher boats werealso recruited from a wide area. See also Appendix 1 for the distribution of
1988
Small-Type Coastal Whaling in Japan,
whalers who are members of Taiyo’s Old Boys Associations.
Edmonton: Boreal Institute for Northern
4. Within this integrated whaling culture there are, however, sufficiently
distinct forms of whaling and activities related to whaling that the concept
Studies, Occasional Paper No.27
of sub-cultures might be warranted. (See Takahashi et al. 1989.)
Fukutake Tadashi
5. There are no descendents of these whalers in Abashiri today. Most ofthem are believed to have returned to Kagoshima in Southern Kyushu.
1982
The Japanese Social Structure: Its Evolution
6. This is the same situation that prevailed during the Tokugawa period
in the Modern Century. Tokyo: University ofwhen those working on the land stations tended to be recruited from farming
and fishing villages nearby whereas the harpooners, their crews, and theTokyo Press
crews on the net boats were recruited from a much wider field (Kalland
Governmentof Japan1986).
7. These restrictions have been introduced for the very valid reason to1989
Report to the Working Group on Sociomake it more difficult for intruders to use the registers in order to identify
economic Implications of a Zero Catch Limit.
persons belonging to the burakumin outcasts. Changes that have been
Report prepared for IWC
introduced in the registers make it also more difficult to construct genealogies
than in the past. I am indebted to employees at the Oshika and Arikawa
Hidemura
Senzo
town halls who did an excellent job in providing the requested data within
1952
Tokugawa-ki Kyushu ni okeru hogeigyo no
the limitations imposed by the law and the registers themselves.
8. The percentages of the households that in the 1980s used one of therodo kankei, (2) (Labour relations in Kyushu
original surnames found in the respective villages are as follows: Ayukawa
whaling during the Tokugawa period).
22.4% (12 original surnames), Kugunari 62.1% (12), Kyubun 76.6 (6),Kobuchi 69.6% (9), Ohara 66.0% (16), Koamikura 75.4% (7), Niiyama
Kyudai Keizai-gaku kenkyu, Vol.18(4): 6785.3% (5), Tomari 90.5% (6), Yagawa 63.0% (8), Oyagawa 84.4% (5),108
Samenoura 93.3% (2), and Yoriisohama 69.4% (3 surnames).
9. This company shared one of the important characteristics of the
Iwasaki Masamiorganization of large set nets in the past. The honke operated as the owners
1987
Cultural Significance of Whaling in awhereas the branch households crewed the boats. But Ayukawa Hogei also
employed many whalers from outside the township. The brother of one of
Whaling Community in Abashiri.
the founders believes that about half the employees came from outside
M.A.thesis, University of Alberta,
Ayukawa. Whether these ‘outsiders’ had married into kinship groups of thefounders, served as teachers to the local people, or simply performed theDepartment of Anthropology
tasks that required most skills, is not known. In any case, the company was
Kalland,Arne
important in bringing Ayukawa men into whaling. Ayukawa Hogei wasbought by Kyokuyo in 1937, thus bringing many Ayukawa whalers into
1986
Pre-modern whaling in Northern Kyushu.
that company.
Bonner Zeitschrift fur Japanologie, vol.8:
10. The importance of gift-giving in Ayukawa is analysed in Akimichi et29-50
al. 1988: 41-51. With the moratorium on whaling, whale meat does not any

147

TC/41/STW3

1989

Arikawa and the impact of a declining
whaling industry. Report prepared for theInstitute of Cetacean Research
Kaneshiro Hideo
1983
Boso no hogei (Whaling in Boso), Tokyo:
Rom Shobo
Kumano Taiji-ura Hogei-shi Hensan I’inkai
1965
Kumano no Taiji — Kujira ni idomu machi(Taiji in Kumano — a town challenging thewhale). Tokyo: Heibonsha
1969
Kumano Taiji-ura hogei-shi (The history ofwhaling in Taiji, Kumano), Tokyo:
Heibonsha
Nihon Suisan K.K.
1966
Dai nijuji nangai (The 20th Antarctic
Whaling Operations). Tokyo: Nihon Suisan
Omori Ichinosuke
n.d.Ayukawa-ko no hogeishi (History of whaling in
Ayukawa Harbour). To be published inVolume 2 of Oshika-choshi (History ofOshika Town), Oshika-cho yakuba
Oshika-choshi hensan i-inkai
1988
Oshika-choshi (History of Oshika Town),Vol. 1, Oshika-cho yakuba
Taiyo Gyogyo K.K.
1984
Maru-ha OB-kai kai’in meibo, (Directory ofmembers of the Taiyo Old Boys’
Association), Tokyo: Taiyo Gyogyo
Takahashi Junichi, A.Kalland, B.Moeran, & T.Bestor
1989
Japan’s Whaling Culture: Continuities andDiversities. Report prepared for the Instituteof Cetacean Research, Tokyo
Takenaka Kunika
1976
Bonan hogei-shi (Whaling off the southerncoast of Boso), Tokyo: Tokyo Suisan
Daigaku Ronshu.
Terry, William M.
1950
Japanese Whaling Industry Prior to 1946.
Natural Resources Section Report No. 126,
Tokyo: SCAP

148

The Spread of Whaling Culture in Japan

Appendix 1: The Organization of OB-Kai for Taiyo Gyogyo
Place of residence,
Prefecture
Kagoshima
Miyazaki
Kumamoto
Oita
NagasakiSaga
Fukuoka
Ehime
Tokushima
Kagawa
Kochi
Yamaguchi
Hiroshima
Okayama
Hyogo
Osaka
Kyoto
Wakayama
Mie
Fukui
Ishikawa
ToyamaNiigata
NaganoShizuoka
Kanagawa
Saitama
Gumma
Tokyo
Chiba
Ibaragi
Tochigi
Fukushima
Yamagata
Miyagi
Iwate
Aomori
Akita
Hokkaido
No of pers

ships' crews

M

2
1
2
3

for:
G

A
46

18

43
1

2
2
9

2

1
4

11
2
14
1

53
4
3

2
1

3
34

10

1
2
4
1
1

7

1

3
82
3
2
21
24
27

2
3
1
2
2
1

1
2
114
3

75
252
113

2
2
246

Legend:M:
Miyagi Association
C:
Shonan Ass. (Central Japan)
TA:
Taiji Association"workers"
TO

1
1

10
3
2
4
2
17
6
3
7
2
3
2
1
2
33
1
2
1
3
71
6
3
20
10
3
4
2
8
1

No. of members incatcher boats
C
TA
S
1

122

S:
G:
A:
TO:

1
184

34

70

18

530

11
1
12
9
97

Total
49
1
3
6
65
3
21
3
2
16
8
84
11
3
12
3
6
46
2
11
37
2
4
1
8
15 6
10
5
43
36
31
4
1
4
133
80
264
115
12
1,301

Sekimon Ass. (Shimonoseki)
Goto Association
Regional associations, see text below
Tokyo Association

The Old Boys Associations for the former employees of
Taiyo are divided according to work and residence. Thereis one national OB-kai for those who worked as sailors on
the large ships (factory and refrigerator ships). The retired
whalers who worked on the catcher boats are organized
into five regional associations: Miyagi (‘M’ in the Table

above), Shonan (central parts of Japan, ‘C’), Taiji (‘TA’),
Sekimon (Yamaguchi, ‘S’) and Goto (‘G’).
Those who worked in the processing units on thefactory and refrigerator ships, are organized in elevenregional OB-kai as below: Those who lived in Aomori
Prefecture were organized into three associations:149

TC/41/STW3

Aomori-Hiromae (67 members), Aomori-Nobeji (73members of whom 66 lived in Nobeji Town), AomoriNango (112 members of whom 111 lived in Nango
Village). Those who lived in Akita Prefecture were alsoorganized into three associations: Akita-Senbokuseibu(47 members of whom 39 lived in Nishi-Senboku
Town), Akita-Rokugo (34 members of whom 27 lived
in Rokugo Town), Akita-Oga (32 members of whom
25 lived in Oga City). The other associations are: Iwate(75 members of whom 71 lived in Ninohei City), Tokyo,
Nagasaki (excluding Arikawa, one lived in Saga
Prefecture, the others in Nagasaki), Nagasaki-Arikawa(43 members of whom 41 lived in Arikawa), andKagoshima.
Not included in the Table are the OB-kai for those
who were employed in fishing activities and office workon land.

followed by a research trip in March/April which brought
him to Abashiri in Hokkaido, Ayukawa in Miyagi Prefecture
and again to Arikawa (including an overnight stay at thehamlet of Enohama).
Long interviews were made with nine persons in
Arikawa in 1988 plus a number of municipal officials.
During March and April 1989 a total of 54 persons wereinterviewed; whalers, whalers’ wives, owners of STCW
boats, temple and shrine priests, distributors of whale meat,
shop and restaurant owners, municipal officials,
politicians, local historians, craftsmen, and others. In
addition, secondary sources and statistical material havebeen used, including household registers of Oshika andArikawa.
Many people have kindly given much of their time andenergy to this study and made this research a pleasuredespite the tight time schedule. We have got many new
friends both in Abashiri, Ayukawa and in Arikawa, and it
might be unfair to single out special persons to thank, but
the author wants nevertheless to express his great gratitude
to Toba Yojiro in Ayukawa and Tanaka Kameta in Arikawa.
They worked hard to make all kinds of arrangements on
short notice and were always enjoyable companions. Thanks
also go to Mrs. Misaki Shigeko for valuable help in allpractical matters.
Financial support for research in April 1988 was givenby the Fund to Promote International Educational Exchange
and since then research has been supported by the Instituteof Cetacean Research.
Three reports have been written as a result of thepresent research. The two other reports are: Arikawa andthe Impact of a Declining Whaling Industry and JapaneseWhaling Culture: Continuities and Diversities (April 1989,
written jointly with J. Takahashi, B. Moeran, and T.C.
Bestor).

Appendix 2: Research Methods
The author has for several years studied fishing villages
in Northern Kyushu, and in this connection he has done
extensive research in historical archives. As a part of his
study on fishing villages during the Tokugawa period (16001868) he first became acquainted with the history of whalingin Japan.
Needless to say, the historical background material has
been used for this report. Nevertheless, the report rests firstof all on anthropological field research carried out in periods
since April 1988 when the author participated in theInternational Workshop on Small-Type Coastal Whalingin Japan (see Akimichi et al. 1988).
In April 1988 the author did field research in Ayukawa
in connection with the above workshop, and he also visited
Taiji and Wadaura. In September 1988 he made a shortfield trip to Arikawa in Nagasaki Prefecture. This was150